A    SHORT    HISTORY   OF 

AMERICAN   LITERATURE 


DESIGNED    PRIMARILY   FOR   USE 
IN   SCHOOLS  AND  COLLEGES 


BY 
WALTER    C.    BRONSON,  A.M. 

PROFESSOR  OF  ENGLISH   LITERATURE   IN   BROWN   UNIVERSITY 


BOSTON,   U.S.A. 

D.  C,  HEATH   &   CO.,  PUBLISHERS 
1900 


PREFACE 

ALTHOUGH  this  book  is  intended  primarily  for  use  in 
the  class-room,  the  attempt  has  been  made  to  give  it  a 
literary  atmosphere,  in  the  conviction  that  text-books 
on  literature  should  contribute  directly  to  the  student's 
culture  as  well  as  to  his  knowledge  of  facts.  It  is  hoped, 
therefore,  that  the  general  reader  may  find  the  follow 
ing  pages  not  wholly  uninteresting.  A  good  deal  of 
the  matter,,  especially  in  the  foot-notes  and  the  appendix, 
should  also  give  the  book  some  value  for  purposes  of 
reference ;  to  that  end,  definiteness  and  accuracy  have 
been  sought  at  no  little  labor ;  but  in  such  a  mass  of 
details  errors  are  inevitable,  and  corrections  will  be 
welcomed. 

The  judicious  teacher  will  readily  recognize  that  the 
parts  dealing  with  minor  authors  and  with  whole  periods 
whose  interest  is  historical  rather  than  literary,  as  well 
as  the  more  critical  matter  upon  the  greater  authors, 
should  be  passed  over  lightly  or  omitted  altogether 
when  the  class  is  immature.  There  is  much  to  be 
said,  however,  in  favor  of  requiring  the  older  pupils  in 
high  schools  and  academies  to  devote  some  study  to 
Colonial  and  Revolutionary  literature,  not  only  for  its 
relation  to  the  literature  of  the  Republic,  but  also  for  the 
light  it  throws  upon  early  American  history  and  the  life 


vi  PREFACE. 

and  character  of  our  forefathers.  Furthermore,  the  ex 
tracts  in  the  appendix  will  be  found  to  contain  much 
that  is  interesting  as  well  as  illustrative  of  the  times ;  and 
the  very  spirit  of  the  age  speaks  in  some  of  the  uncon 
sciously  humorous  title-pages  given  in  the  bibliography. 

Throughout  the  book  the  literature  has  been  pre 
sented  in  its  relation  to  general  conditions  in  America 
and  to  the  literatures  of  England  and  the  Continent  of 
Europe,  for  only  so  can  it  be  completely  understood  and 
its  full  significance  perceived  ;  but  the  personality  of  the 
authors  and  the  intrinsic  qualities  of  their  work  have,  it 
is  hoped,  received  due  attention.  The  division  into 
periods  is  not  meant  to  be  insisted  upon  too  strongly. 
But  some  dividing  lines  must  be  run  for  convenience  and 
clearness  in  treating  of  so  wide  and  diversified  a  field, 
and  those  adopted  are  perhaps  liable  to  fewer  objections 
than  any  others.  They  have,  however,  been  transgressed 
freely  where  it  was  necessary  to  do  so  in  order  to  avoid 
splitting  the  discussion  of  an  author's  work.  In  the  case 
of  writers  with  whom  the  reader  is  probably  not  familiar 
and  never  need  be,  the  method  is  chiefly  descriptive  ; 
elsewhere  the  book  is  intended  to  be  merely  a  guide  in 
reading  and  studying  the  literature  itself. 

I  wish  to  express  my  indebtedness,  for  inspiration  and 
guidance  and  occasionally  for  information,  to  Professor 
Tyler's  admirable  history  of  the  Colonial  and  Revolu 
tionary  literature.  But  it  is  due  to  the  reader  to  add 
that  even  the  earlier  portions  of  this  little  work  are  based 
almost  wholly  upon  a  study  of  the  literature  at  first  hand. 
Any  other  method,  indeed,  would  have  been  inexcusable 
in  the  case  of  one  having  access  to  .such  remarkable 
collections  of  Americana  as  the  Harris  Collection  of 


PREFACE.  vii 

American  Poetry,  in  the  library  of  Brown  University, 
and  the  John  Carter  Brown  Library  in  the  city  of  Provi 
dence.  It  has  been  my  privilege  to  work  from  many 
rare  first  editions,  and  in  a  few  instances  to  hit  upon 
material  not  hitherto  utilized,  so  far  as  I  know,  in  books 
upon  American  literature.  It  may  be  fitting  to  say,  fur 
ther,  that  what  is  presented  upon  pages  79-90  embodies 
the  results  of  a  canvass  of  all  the  poetry  published  be 
tween  the  years  1789  and  1815  and  contained  in  the 
Harris  Collection.  It  is  perhaps  hardly  necessary  to  add 
that  the  bibliography  in  the  appendix  has  been  made  to 
a  considerable  extent  from  the  original  editions,  and, 
where  these  were  lacking,  largely  from  Sabin's  Biblio- 
theca  Americana;  that  the  lives  of  the  greater  authors 
and  the  lists  of  their  works  are  derived  from  the  larger 
biographies  and  bibliographies ;  and  that  details  about 
minor  authors  have  been  taken  from  standard  books  of 
reference. 

My  special  thanks  are  due  to  Mr.  Harry  L.  Koop- 
man,  librarian  of  Brown  University,  and  to  his  assist 
ants,  for  many  courtesies  ;  to  Mr.  George  P.  Winship, 
librarian  of  the  John  Carter  Brown  Library,  for  the  use 
of  that  collection ;  to  the  authorities  of  the  Rhode 
Island  Historical  Society  for  access  to  some  rare  publi 
cations  on  their  shelves;  to  Mr.  William  E.  Foster, 
librarian  of  the  Providence  Public  Library,  for  special 
privileges  ;  and  to  Professor  Alois  Brandl,  of  the  Univer 
sity  of  Berlin,  for  securing  me  the  use  of  the  University 
and  Royal  Libraries  in  Berlin.  To  Dr.  F.  R.  Lane  of 
the  Central  High  School,  Washington,  D.C.,  to  Professor 
L.  A.  Sherman  of  the  University  of  Nebraska,  and  to 
Mr.  H.  L.  Boltwood,  Principal  of  the  Evanston  High 


viii  PREFACE. 

School,  Illinois,  I  am  indebted  for  sundry  suggestions 
made  while  the  book  was  going  through  the  press ;  but 
as  their  suggestions  were  not  always  adopted,  they  are 
in  nowise  responsible  for  the  faults  of  the  book.  The 
faults  are  doubtless  many.  I  can  only  hope  that,  in  spite 
of  them,  the  following  pages  may  be  of  some  real  service 
in  the  study  of  the  literature  of  my  country. 

BERLIN,  December  29,  1899. 


CONTENTS. 

PAGES 

PREFACE v-viii 

INTRODUCTION 3~4 

FOREWORDS  TO  COLONIAL  AND  REVOLUTIONARY 

PERIODS 7-9 

COLONIAL   PERIOD:—         . 10-42 

LITERATURE  IN  VIRGINIA 11-16 

LITERATURE  IN  NEW  ENGLAND      .       .       .       .       .      16-38 

LITERATURE  IN  THE  OTHER  COLONIES  ....      38-42 

REVOLUTIONARY    PERIOD:—.         .        .        .        .        .       43-68 

GENERAL  CONDITIONS 43-45 

POLITICAL  LITERATURE 4S-51 

HISTORIES,  LETTERS,  ESSAYS,  ETC 51-55 

BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN. 55~57 

POETRY  AND  THE  DRAMA: 57~68 

Minor  poets,  57-59;    John  Trumbull,  60-6 1 ;    Timothy 
Dwight,  61-62 ;    Joel  Barlow,  62-63  '•    Philip  Freneau, 
63-65;  Jonathan  Odell,  66;  dramas,  66-68. 
FOREWORDS   TO    PERIOD   OF  THE   REPUBLIC         .      71-72 

PERIOD   OF  THE   REPUBLIC:— 73-290 

THE  LITERATURE  FROM  1789  TO  1815 :  .       .       .       .    73-101 
General   conditions,   73-78;    orations,  biographies,  and 
essays,  78-79 ;    poetry  and  the  drama,  79-91 ;    prose 
fiction  and  Charles  Brockden  Brown,  91-101. 
THE  LITERATURE  FROM  1815  TO  1870:  ....  101-278 

General  Conditions 101-112 

New  York  Writers  : 112-150 

General  conditions,  112-113;  minor  authors,  113-116; 
Washington  Irving,  116-126;  James  Fenimore 
Cooper,  126-136;  William  Cullen  Bryant,  136-148; 
later  minor  authors,  148-150. 

Southern  Writers  : 150-170 

General  conditions.  150-152;  minor  authors,  152-154, 
157-158;  William  Gilmore  Simms,  154-157;  Edgar 
Allan  Poe,  158-170. 

ix 


x  CONTENTS. 

PAGES 

New  England  Writers : 170-260 

Minor  authors,  170-176;  Henry  Wadsworth  Long 
fellow,  177-191 ;  transcendentalism,  191-195;  Ralph 
Waldo  Emerson,  195-209;  minor  transcendentalists, 
209-210;  Henry  David  Thoreau,  210-213  ;  Nathaniel 
Hawthorne,  213-227  ;  John  Greenleaf  Whittier,  227- 
239;  James  Russell  Lowell,  239-250;  Oliver  Wen 
dell  Holmes,  250-260. 

Writers  of  the  Middle  States  : 260-273 

Minor  authors,  260-262;  Bayard  Taylor,  262-265; 
Walt  Whitman,  265-273. 

Humorists,  orators,  historians 273-278 

THE  LITERATURE  FROM  1870  TO  1900:  ....  278-289 
General  Conditions  and  Tendencies          ....  278-283 

Northern  Writers 283-285 

Western  Writers      " 285-287 

Southern  Writers 287-289 

CONCLUSION 289-290 

APPENDIX 291-356 

A.  EXTRACTS  FROM  COLONIAL  AND  REVOLUTIONARY 

LITERATURE: 293-322 

John  Smith,  293;  William  Byrd,  294;  William  Brad 
ford,  295;  William  Bradford  and  Edward  Winslow, 
295;  Madam  Winthrop,  296;  Thomas  Hooker,  297; 
Nathaniel  Ward,  298  ;  Anne  Bradstreet,  299 ;  Michael 
Wigglesworth,  300;  Cotton  Mather,  301;  Jonathan 
Edwards,  302 ;  Samuel  Sewall,  303 ;  Madam  Knight, 
305;  Mary  Rowlandson,  307;  A  Collection  of  Poems, 
307 ;  Joseph  Green,  308 ;  Thomas  Godfrey,  309 ; 
Henry  Laurens,  310;  The  Columbian  Magazine,  311; 
The  Providence  Gazette,  312;  A  Cure  for  the  Spleen, 
313 ;  J.  Hector  St.  John  Crevecoeur,  315 ;  Songs  and 
Ballads  of  the  American  Revolution,  316;  John  Trum- 
bull,  317;  Timothy  Dwight,  318;  Joel  Barlow,  319; 
Philip  Freneau,  320;  Henry  H.  Brackenridge,  321. 

B.  NEWSPAPERS  AND  MAGAZINES  — COLLEGES  — THE 

NEW  ENGLAND  PRIMER  .       .  .       .       .  323-328 

C.  PARTIAL  BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  COLONIAL  AND  REVO 

LUTIONARY  LITERATURE 329-341 

D.  REFERENCE  LIST  OF  BOOKS  AND  ARTICLES  .       .  342-356 
INDEX 3S7 


HISTORY   OF 
AMERICAN    LITERATURE. 


INTRODUCTION. 

MEN  of  the  English  race  have  occupied  what  is  now 
the  United  States  of  America  for  nearly  three  centuries. 
In  that  time,  aided  by  men  of  other  races,  they  have  done 
an  immense  and  splendid  work.  They  have  increased 
from  a  few  thousands  to  seventy  millions ;  subdued  and 
settled  a  wilderness  stretching  from  ocean  to  ocean ; 
established  the  greatest  Republic  in  the  world's  history ; 
fought  two  great  wars,  one  for  national  independence 
and  one  for  national  unity  and  the  liberation  of  the 
slave ;  developed  a  magnificent  material  civilization ; 
covered  a  continent  with  churches,  schools,  and  col 
leges  ;  and  made  respectable  beginnings  in  literature 
and  the  fine  arts. 

Of  this  manifold  activity  the  literary  side  only  will  be 
the  subject  of  special  study  in  the  following  pages.  But 
it  should  be  remembered  that  a  nation's  literature  is 
closely  related  to  the  other  sides  of  the  national  life  and 
cannot  be  fully  understood  apart.  For  the  first  two  cen 
turies,  indeed,  our  literature  is  chiefly  valuable,  not  as 
art,  but  as  history,  as  an  expression  of  the  spirit  of  the 
people  and  the  times.  Nor  can  its  full  significance  be 
seen  until  we  widen  our  view  still  more  and  recognize 
that  American  literature  is  one  branch  of  the  greater 
English  literature,  a  part  of  the  life  of  a  great  race  as 
well  as  of  a  great  nation. 

3 


1  ;,';'  .'INTRODUCTION. 

;/;fhe  ;  hi  story  of ''American  literature  will,  therefore, 
here  be  divided  into'  periods  corresponding  to  the 
great  periods  of  American  history  : 

I.   THE  COLONIAL  PERIOD,  1607-1765. 
II.   THE   REVOLUTIONARY  PERIOD,  1765-1789. 
III.  THE  PERIOD  OF  THE  REPUBLIC,  1789-1900. 

In  the  first  two  periods  the  purely  literary  aspects  of 
the  subject-matter  will,  for  the  reason  already  mentioned, 
receive  less  attention  ;  in  the  last  period  the  literature 
will  be  studied  chiefly  for  its  own  sake,  although  its 
historical  and  social  relations  must  not  be  forgotten ; 
and  from  first  to  last  there  will  be  frequent  occasion  to 
note  the  influence  exerted  upon  American  writers  by 
those  of  England  and  the  other  countries  of  Europe. 


THE    COLONIAL    AND    REVOLU 
TIONARY   PERIODS. 


FOREWORDS. 

THE  development  of  American  literature  during  the 
first  two  centuries  presents  a  peculiar  phenomenon.  The 
literature  is  not  that  of  a  people  slowly  emerging  from 
barbarism  and  creating  their  own  civilization  through  the 
long  toil  of  ages.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  the  literature  of  a 
people  already  highly  civilized,  but  transplanted  to  another 
continent,  where  they  set  up  in  the  wilderness  the  institu 
tions  of  the  Old  World,  modifying  them  to  meet  changed 
conditions  and  taking  on  in  time  a  somewhat  new  spirit, 
yet  on  the  whole  clinging  tenaciously  to  the  substance  of  the 
old,  and  imitating  with  the  provincial's  feeling  of  depend 
ence  the  current  life  and  fashions  of  the  mother  country. 
A  colonial  literature  has  the  advantage  of  inheriting  the 
riches  of  an  old  civilization ;  it  has  the  disadvantage  of 
crude  surroundings  and  lack  of  originality.  Such  was 
the  case  with  American  literature  for  two  hundred  years. 

During  the  first  three-fourths  of  the  seventeenth  cen 
tury,  the  period  when  most  of  the  English  colonies  in 
America  were  planted,  England  was  the  home  of  great 
men  and  of  a  great  literature.  Spenser  had  died  as  the 
old  century  went  out,  Shakspere  and  Bacon  lived  on  into 
the  new,  and  Milton  was  born  one  year  after  the  settle 
ment  of  Jamestown.  The  colonists  were  of  the  same  stock 
which  had  just  produced  these  and  other  literary  Titans ; 
but  it  would  of  course  be  folly  to  look  for  writers  equally 
great  in  the  forests  of  America.  Settling  a  wilderness 
and  laying  the  foundations  of  a  state  are  of  themselves 
tasks  ample  enough  for  the  strongest.  If  Shakspere  the 


8  THE    COLONIAL  PERIOD. 

deer-stealer  had  fled  to  Virginia  instead  of  to  London,  if 
Milton  had  been  a  dissenting  parson  in  a  little  New  Eng 
land  village,  should  we  have  had  King  Lear  and  Paradise 
Lost?  Furthermore,  it  should  be  remembered  that  for 
a  century  and  more  the  population  of  the  colonies  was 
comparatively  small;  and  since  geniuses  are  rare  in 
every  generation,  it  is  no  wonder  that  they  were  not 
numerous  among  the  few  hundred  thousand  inhabit 
ants  scattered  along  the  Atlantic  seaboard.  It  must  be 
said,  however,  that  not  only  the  great  lights  were  absent 
from  America,  but  the  lesser  ones  as  well,  and  that  the 
general  level  of  literary  talent  was  low.  Unfavorable 
environment  accounts  for  this  state  of  things  in  part ;  the 
character  of  the  colonists  accounts  for  yet  more.  Among 
the  early  settlers  of  the  South  were  many  paupers,  con 
victs,  and  needy  adventurers.  In  Virginia  the  leading 
colonists  were  indeed  of  the  Cavalier  class  and  in 
herently  capable  of  literary  culture ;  but  there,  as  will 
soon  be  shown,  the  local  conditions  were  peculiarly  un 
favorable  for  the  creation  of  a  literary  atmosphere. 
And  the  Northern  and  Middle  colonies  were  settled 
chiefly  by  practical,  religious  people,  more  intent  upon 
their  political  rights  and  the  salvation  of  their  souls  than 
upon  the  delights  of  belles  lettres.  During  the  last  quar 
ter  of  the  seventeenth  century  and  the  greater  part  of  the 
eighteenth,  literature  in  England  itself  was  comparatively 
inferior,  the  splendid  Elizabethan  age  of  poetry  and  im 
agination  having  given  place  to  the  "age  of  prose  and 
reason."  Yet  the  names  of  Dryden,  Addison,  Swift,  Pope, 
Fielding,  Gray,  Goldsmith,  Johnson,  Gibbon,  and  Hume 
are  in  their  own  way  great,  and  American  literature  for 
the  same  period  has  —  with  two  exceptions  —  no  names 


FOREWORDS.  9 

worthy  of  a  place  beside  them.  But  this  is  not  matter 
for  surprise  ;  conditions  in  America,  although  improving, 
were  still  unfavorable.  Along  the  frontier  the  contest 
with  wild  nature  went  on  unceasingly ;  and  within  the 
area  already  settled,  arose  a  new  set  of  sinew-straining 
tasks  —  the  development  of  commerce  and  industry,  the 
wars  with  France  for  the  possession  of  Canada,  and  the 
struggle  for  independence  and  national  union.  Further 
more,  from  first  to  last  the  literature  of  the  mother  coun 
try  retarded  the  growth  of  a  native  literature  by  dimin 
ishing  the  need  of  one ;  our  ancestors  imported  poetry, 
essays,  and  novels  from  England  just  as  they  imported 
fine  fabrics  and  other  luxuries. 

Next  to  the  inferiority  of  early  American  literature, 
the  most  conspicuous  fact  is  its  imitation  of  English 
models.  Throughout  its  whole  course  it  runs  parallel 
with  literature  in  the  mother  country,  although  usually 
lagging  about  a  generation  behind.  In  America  as 
in  England,  the  heavy  prose  of  the  seventeenth  cen 
tury  is  succeeded  by  lighter  and  more  orderly  prose 
in  the  eighteenth.  The  "  metaphysical "  poetry  of  the 
Jacobean  and  Caroline  periods  is  solemnly  echoed 
from  the  rocky  New  England  coast.  The  didactic  and 
satiric  verse  of  Dryden  and  Pope  feathers  the  shaft  of  the 
American  satirist  in  regions  which  not  long  before  knew 
only  the  whiz  of  the  Indian's  arrow.  The  profitable 
pleasantries  of  Addison,  the  pensive  moralizing  of  Gray, 
the  genial  grace  of  Goldsmith,  the  ponderous  sesqui 
pedalian  tread  of  Johnson,  the  new  Romanticism  of 
Collins,  Macpherson,  and  Walpole,  the  "  sensibility  "  of 
Mackenzie  and  Sterne,  all  find  admirers  and  imitators  in 
the  colonial  writers  of  verse  and  prose. 


I.   THE   COLONIAL    PERIOD. 

(1607-1765.) 


EVENTS  IN  AMERICA. 


Settlement  of  Jamestown,  1607. 

Negro  slavery  introduced  into  Vir 
ginia,  1619. 

Landing  of  Pilgrims  at  Plymouth, 
1620. 

New  York  settled  by  Dutch,  1621. 

Indian  massacre  in  Virginia, 
1622. 

Founding  of  Massachusetts  Bay 
Colony,  1630. 

Founding  of  Maryland,  1634. 

First    settlement    in    Connecticut, 

1635- 

Founding  of  Providence,  1636. 
Pequot  War,  1637. 
Delaware  settled  by  Swedes,  1638. 


First  settlement  in  North  Carolina, 

1653- 

Persecution  of  Quakers,  1656-1661. 

English  seize  New  York,  1664. 

Founding  of  Charleston,  S.C.,  1670. 

Bacon's  Rebellion,  1676. 

King  Philip's  War,  1675-1678. 

Pennsylvania  settled,  1682. 

Salem  witchcraft,  1692. 

Wars  in  America  between  France 
(aided  by  Indians)  and  Eng 
land  :  King  William's  War, 
1689-1697  ;  Queen  Anne's  War, 
1702-1713;  King  George's  War, 
1744-1748 ;  French  and  Indian 
War,  1754-1763. 


EVENTS  IN  ENGLAND. 


Reign  of  James  I.,  1603-1625. 
Charles  I.  came  to  throne,  1625. 
Civil  War,  1642-1646. 
Charles  I.  beheaded,  1649. 
England  a  commonwealth,  1649- 

1660. 
Restoration  of  monarchy,  1660. 


The  Bloodless  Revolution,  1688. 
William  and  Mary  came  to  throne, 

1689. 

Reign  of  Anne,  1702-1714. 
Reign  of  George  I.,  1714-1727. 
Reign  of  George  II.,  1727-1760. 
George  III.  came  to  throne,  1760. 


LITERATURE  IN  ENGLAND. 


Shakspere,  1564-1616. 

Bacon,  1561-1626. 

Milton,    1608-1674;     early   poems 

(published),  1645;  prose,  1641- 

1674 ;  Paradise  Lost,  1667. 
"  Metaphysical  "    poets  :     Donne, 

^573-^si ;  Herbert,  1593-1633 ; 

Quarles,    1592-1644 ;      Cowley, 

1618-1667. 


"  Cavalier  "  poets :  Herrick,  1591- 
1674;  Carew,  1598-1639;  Suck 
ling,  1609-1641 ;  Lovelace,  1618- 
1658. 

Great  preachers :  Taylor,  1613- 
1667;  Barrow,  1630-1677  ;  Tillot- 
son,  1630-1694;  South, 1633-1716. 

Pilgrim's  Progress,  1678  and  1684. 

Dryden,  1631-1700. 


10 


THE   COLONIAL   PERIOD.  11 


The  Spectator  essays,  1711-1714. 

Swift,  1667-1745. 

Watts,  1674-1748. 

Young,  1681-1765. 

Pope,  1688-1744. 

Thomson,  1700-1748. 


Novels  of  Defoe  (1661-1731),  Rich 
ardson  (1689-1761),  Fielding 
(1707-1754),  Smollett  (1721- 
1771). 

Collins,  1721-1759. 

Gray,  1716-1771. 


i.    LITERATURE  IN  VIRGINIA. 

For  the  beginnings  of  American  literature  we  must  go 
back  nearly  three  centuries,  to  the  time  when  a  little 
band  of  Englishmen  settled  at  Jamestown,  Va.,  and 
erected  a  few  rude  huts  on  the  edge  of  the  primeval 
forest.  Starvation,  fever,  Indians,  and  mismanagement 
soon  threatened  the  very  existence  of  the  settlement, 
the  horrors  of  the  Starving  Time  slaying  all  but  sixty 
out  of  a  population  of  five  hundred.  Subsequently  the 
colony  grew  and  prospered.  Yet  toils  and  dangers 
abounded  still.  Forests  must  be  felled,  houses  built, 
and  new  land  brought  under  the  plough.  From  time 
to  time  Indian  massacres  spread  death  and  alarm.  The 
political  storms  which  shook  the  mother  country  in  the 
middle  of  the  century  agitated  the  colony  too.  And  a 
little  later,  Bacon's  Rebellion  threw  Virginia  itself  into 
the  fever  of  civil  strife.  Such  conditions,  when  the  ener 
gies  of  men  are  absorbed  in  the  strenuous  labors  of  the 
pioneer,  do  not  conduce  to  the  growth  of  the  fine  arts. 
It  is  therefore  no  surprise  to  find  that  the  literature  of 
Virginia  during  these  early  years  is  comparatively  meagre 
and  poor.  The  writers  were  often  unpractised,  and  had 
small  leisure  for  the  graces  of  style.  But  they  wrote  with 
the  largeness  and  freedom  and  manly  strength  which  were 
characteristic  of  the  age ;  their  pictures  of  peril  by  sea 
and  land  are  powerful  and  graphic ;  and  in  their  descrip- 


12  LITERATURE    IN   VIRGINIA. 

tions  of  the  New  World  and  its  strange  inhabitants  is 
sometimes  a  vein  of  rich  though  artless  poetry. 

Foremost  in  time  among  these  early  authors  stands 
*  Captain  JOHN  SMITH/  a  man  of  bold  spirit  and  many 
adventures.  He  seems  to  have  been  given  to  boastful- 
ness  and  romantic  exaggeration ;  in  particular,  his  story 
about  his  rescue  by  Pocahontas  has  been  much  ques 
tioned  by  modern  historians.2  But  his  undoubted  ex 
periences  in  the  New  World  were  varied  and  often 
thrilling;  and  in  his  several  books  he  describes  them 
and  the  country  with  the  same  rough-and-ready  spirit 
in  v/hich  he  journeyed  and  fought.  WILLIAM  STRACHEY 
still  lives  as  a  writer  in  his  description  of  a  storm  at  sea, 
which  wrecked  him  and  his  company  on  their  voyage  to 
Virginia  in  1609.  His  account,  which  it  is  thought  may 
have  suggested  to  Shakspere  certain  passages  in  The 
Tempest,  is  in  places  magnificent,  full  of  the  awful  might 
of  the  ocean  in  wrath.  Other  writers  of  the  same  class 
may  here  be  passed  by.3  Not  so  with  GEORGE  SANDYS, 
the  first  poet  upon  Virginian  soil,  who  there  completed 
his  translation  of  Ovid's  Metamorphoses,  during  the  troub 
lous  times  of  the  Indian  massacre  in  1622.  The  authors 
mentioned  thus  far  were  Englishmen  writing  in  or  about 
America  rather  than  Americans  even  in  spirit.  But  in 
1656  appeared  a  book  by  one  who  had  come  to  love 
America  as  his  home  :  "  It  is  that  Country  in  which  I 
desire  to  spend  the  remnant  of  my  dayes,"  writes  JOHN 

1  An  author  or  work  marked  by  an  asterisk  is  represented  among  the 
extracts  in  Appendix,  A. 

2  For  a  fair  statement  of  the  case  against  it,  see  Doyle's  English 
Colonies  in  America,  Vol.  I.,  Appendix  E;   for  the  other  side,  Fiske's 
Old  Virginia  and  Her  Neighbours,  Vol.  I.,  p.  103. 

8  For  the  names  and  works  of  some  of  them,  see  Appendix,  C. 


VIRGINIA'S   GOLDEN   AGE.  13 

HAMMOND  in  his  Leah  and  Rachel; T  and  he  contrasts  the 
simple  plenty  and  new  opportunities  in  America  with  the 
hopeless  poverty  in  the  crowded  cities  of  the  Old  World. 
The  stormy  days  of  Bacon's  Rebellion  called  forth  a  good 
deal  of  political  literature,  but  it  is  of  little  general  in 
terest.  The  sudden  death  of  the  rebel  leader,  however, 
was  the  occasion  of  an  anonymous  elegy  of  some  merit, 
ending  with  these  dignified  lines  :  — 

Here  let  him  rest;   while  wee  this  truth  report 
Hee's  gon  from  hence  unto  a  higher  Court 
To  pleade  his  Cause :  where  he  by  this  doth  know 
Whether  to  Ceaser  hee  was  friend,  or  foe.2 

Before  the  end  of  the  century  Virginia  entered  upon 
its  colonial  Golden  Age.  The  Indians  had  been  over 
awed.  Wealth  and  population  were  increasing  rapidly. 
Along  the  pleasant  waterways  stood  the  comfortable 
mansion-houses  of  the  planters,  slave-huts  clustering 
near,  and  broad  acres  of  woodland  and  tillage  stretching 
away  on  every  side.  Yet,  because  of  the  dearth  of 
cities,  printing-presses,  and  schools,  literature  nourished 
no  better  than  before.  The  Virginian  gentleman,  inher 
iting  the  tastes  of  the  English  country  squire,3  preferred 

1  Page  28,  ed.  1656. 

2  Proc.  Mass.  Hist.  Soc.,  1866-1867,  P-   324-     The  earliest  extant 
original  poem  written  in  Virginia  seems  to  have  been  John  Grave's  A 
Song  of  Sion,  published  in  England  in  1662.     Grave  was  a  Quaker, 
and  his  crude  lines  are  full  of  righteous  indignation  over  the  recent  per 
secution  of  his  sect  in  America.    The  poem  is  not  mentioned,  so  far  as 
I  know,  in  any  history  or  cyclopaedia  of  American  literature.     I  am  in 
debted   to   Mr.  C.  S.  Brigham,  of  the  Brown  University  Library,  for 
calling  my  attention  to  the  copy  in  the  Harris  Collection. 

3  From  the  first  the  leading  colonists  of  Virginia  were  "  gentlemen  " ; 
and  after  the  defeat  of  the  king's  party  many  Cavaliers,  from  the  class  of 
the  landed  gentry,  sought  refuge  in  the  colony,  the  ancestors  of  Wash 
ington  and  of  other  great  Virginians  being  among  them. 


14  LITERATURE   IN   VIRGINIA. 

plantation  life  to  city  life ;  the  fertile  soil  and  the  unin 
telligent  labor  of  slaves  or  "  indentured  "  servants  made 
agriculture,  particularly  the  growing  of  tobacco,  the  most 
profitable  industry ;  and  the  many  rivers  and  creeks, 
allowing  vessels  to  land  their  cargoes  almost  at  the 
planter's  door,  rendered  seaport  towns  unnecessary. 
Printing-presses  were  long  forbidden  by  the  king,  and 
until  past  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  there 
was  but  one  printing-house  in  all  Virginia.  The  more 
intelligent  Virginians  were  not  indifferent  to  education  : 
private  schools  were  soon  established,  and  a  college 
was  planned  as  early  as  1622,  although  circumstances 
delayed  its  actual  founding  until  1693.  But  the  Vir 
ginians,  as  a  whole,  had  not  much  zeal  for  education ; 
the  difficulty  of  providing  instruction  for  all  was  greatly 
increased  by  the  sparseness  of  the  population ;  and  in 
consequence  the  mass  of  the  people  were  comparatively 
illiterate.1  In  brief,  colonial  Virginia  lacked  the  mental 
stimulus  of  life  in  towns  and  cities,  where  mind  kindles 
mind  by  contact ;  if  books  were  written,  it  was  difficult  to 
get  them  printed ;  and  if  they  were  printed,  there  were 
few  people  to  read  them.  In  such  conditions  the  produc 
tion  of  a  large  body  of  literature  is  not  to  be  expected. 

Yet  some  literature  there  was.  Rev.  JAMES  BLAIR,  the 
founder  of  William  and  Mary  College,  and  for  fifty  years 
its  president,  published  in  1722  a  volume  of  discourses 
on  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount ;  and,  in  conjunction  with 

1  Even  the  better  class  of  planters,  loving  field-sports  and  life  in  the 
open  air,  cared  less  for  books  than  did  the  New  Englander.  The 
clergymen,  sent  over  by  the  authorities  of  the  Church  of  England  as 
good  enough  for  a  colony,  were  often  ignorant  and  immoral.  The  in 
dentured  white  servants  (many  of  them  paupers  and  convicts)  and  the 
negro  slaves  were  of  course  mostly  indifferent  to  education. 


THE   RISE   OF   AMERICAN    SPIRIT.  15 

other  writers,  The  Present  State  of  Virginia  and  the  Col 
lege  (1727).  Professor  HUGH  JONES  wrote  an  unpre 
tentious  little  book,  The  Present  State  of  Virginia  (1724), 
very  plain  in  style,  but  containing  sensible  suggestions  for 
the  betterment  of  the  colony  and  some  amusing  strictures 
on  the  indolence  of  the  inhabitants.  A  much  more  inter 
esting  work  is  the  History  of  Virginia  (1705,  1722), 
by  ROBERT  BEVERLEY,  whose  style,  although  not  highly 
polished,  is  flowing  and  often  vivid.  This  book,  by  a 
native  Virginian  and  about  Virginia,  reminds  us  that  in 
the  older  colonies  there  was  now  growing  up  a  generation 
American  by  birth,  American  in  spirit,  and  moulded 
largely  by  American  conditions.  Henceforth  we  may 
expect  to  hear  a  more  distinctively  American  note  in 
colonial  literature.  In  fact,  the  author  to  be  spoken  of 
next  is  clearly  a  product,  in  part,  of  the  new  conditions. 
Colonel  WILLIAM  BYRD  (1674-1744)  inherited  a  princely 
fortune  and  high  social  position.  After  being  educated 
abroad,  he  returned  to  Virginia,  where  he  held  high 
offices  for  many  years,  and  on  his  estates  at  Westover 
collected  a  library  of  nearly  four  thousand  volumes.  He 
left  several  works  in  manuscript,  the  principal  of  which  is 
*The  History  of  the  Dividing  Line,  a  journal  of  the 
expedition  that  in  1729  ran  the  boundary  line  between 
Virginia  and  North  Carolina.  Here  and  elsewhere  Byrd 
has  a  lightness  of  touch,  a  gayety,  a  lively  fancy,  a  spark 
ling  wit,  a  dash  and  gusto  which  make  his  pages  delight 
ful  reading.  They  show  the  literary  polish  of  the  England 
of  Addison  and  Pope ;  but  they  show  something  more. 
In  Colonel  Byrd  the  Virginian  aristocracy  of  the  earlier 
day  came  to  full  flower ;  and  his  writings  contain  the 
very  essence  of  that  careless,  sunny,  free-limbed  life  of 


16  LITERATURE   IN   NEW    ENGLAND. 

the  English  Cavalier  transplanted  to  the  fresher  air  and 
wider  spaces  of  the  New  World.  Rev.  WILLIAM  STITH, 
a  native  of  Virginia,  and  president  of  William  and  Mary 
College,  brought  out  in  1 747  The  History  of  the  First  Dis 
covery  and  Settlement  of  Virginia}  The  book  is  clear 
and  careful,  commanding  respect  if  -not  admiration,  and 
forms  a  worthy  close  to  the  pre-Revolutionary  literature 
of  the  principal  colony  of  the  South. 

2.     LITERATURE   IN   NEW   ENGLAND. 

The  literature  of  colonial  New  England  was  more 
abundant  than  that  of  Virginia  and  somewhat  different  in 
savor.  The  causes  for  this  lay  in  the  nature  of  the 
colonists  and  the  country.  The  sterile  soil  and  severe  cli 
mate  did  not  allow  of  large  plantations  cultivated  by  waste 
ful  slave-labor ;  only  the  small  farmer,  working  with  the 
shrewd  and  tireless  industry  of  a  proprietor,  could  wring 
a  profit  from  the  stony  hillsides.  The  rocky  coast,  with 
few  large  rivers  but  many  harbors,  favored  the  growth  of 
seaport  towns.  Furthermore,  while  in  Virginia  the  unit 
of  population  was  the  family,  in  New  England  it  was  at 
first  the  church,  or  congregation,  knit  together  by  a 
common  faith  and  assembling  every  Sunday  in  a  common 
building,  the  "  meeting-house."  These  conditions,  by 
producing  a  concentration  of  population,  stimulated  in 
tellectual  activity  and  made  easier  the  establishment  of 
common  schools.  The  characteristics  of  the  colonists 
tended  to  the  same  results.  Most  of  the  settlers  of  New 
England  were  "  Separatists."  On  account  of  their  dis- 

1  It  was  printed  in  the  colony,  and  is  a  very  creditable  piece  of  typog 
raphy. 


THE   PURITAN    INFLUENCE.  17 

satisfaction  with  certain  things  in  the  Church  of  England 
they  had  left  it  or  been  driven  out  of  it,  and  had  formed 
separate  churches  of  their  own ;  and  their  motive  in 
coming  three  thousand  miles  across  a  stormy  ocean  was 
to  build  up  in  the  New  World  a  Commonwealth  of  the 
Reformed  Faith.  Like  all  reformers  they  were  men  of 
independent  thought ;  they  held  an  intellectual  form 
of  religion  ;  and  they  believed  that  every  man  must  search 
the  Scriptures  for  himself,  under  the  guidance  of  a 
learned  ministry,  and  work  out  his  own  salvation  in  fear 
and  logic.  Hence  they  thought  it  a  duty  to  teach  every 
child  to  read  the  Bible ;  and  so  schools  were  planted 
almost  as  soon  as  corn,  while  Harvard  College  was 
founded  only  six  years  later  than  Boston  itself.1  In 
consequence  of  these  characteristics  and  conditions  the 
level  of  intelligence  throughout  New  England  was  very 
high,  and  there  was  from  the  first  a  literary  class, 
composed  chiefly  of  clergymen  and  magistrates,  who 
had  the  capacity,  learning,  and  industry  to  write  many 
books.2 

The  same  causes  which  made  the  literature  abundant 
made  it  also  sombre  and  often  dull.  Much  of  it  consists 
of  religious  works,  and  nearly  all  is  permeated  with  the 
atmosphere  of  a  faith  which  had  more  of  gloom  than  of 
sunshine.  Yet  strength  is  here  too,  the  strength  of  the 
Puritan  character  and  the  Puritan  creed ;  in  the  earlier 
years  the  romance  of  the  New  World  tinges  even  the 

1 "  By  the  year  1649  every  colony  in  New  England,  except  Rhode 
Island,  had  made  public  instruction  compulsory." — Tyler's  A  History 
of  American  Literature,  Vol.  I.,  p.  99. 

2  "  At  one  time  .  .  .  there  was  in  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut  a 
Cambridge  graduate  for  every  two  hundred  and  fifty  inhabitants."  — 
Ibid.,  p.  98. 

C 


i8  LITERATURE    IN   NEW   ENGLAND. 

pages  of  the  prosaic  annalist;  the  sublime  if  gloomy 
poetry  inherent  in  Calvinism  gives  a  certain  greatness 
to  many  a  heavy  sermon  and  dull  poem ;  and  through 
out  the  whole  mass  of  this  literature  can  be  felt  the 
intellectual  solidity,  moral  soundness,  and  sturdy  practi 
cal  sense  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race. 

Among  the  earliest  writings  were  naturally  Diaries, 
Histories,  and  Descriptions.  The  events  of  the  first 
year  of  the  Plymouth  Colony  were  recorded  in  the 
*  Journal  of  WILLIAM  BRADFORD  and  EDWARD  WINSLOW, 
written  in  unvarnished  style,  but  vivid  and  full  of  inter 
esting  incidents.  In  this  daily  record  we  may  live  over 
again  the  life  of  the  Pilgrims  —  their  search  along  the 
wintry  coast  for  a  good  site  for  a  settlement,  their  first 
encounter  with  Indians,  their  landing  at  Plymouth,  and 
their  terrible  sufferings  during  the  first  winter.  The 
*History  of  Plymouth,  by  the  same  William  Bradford, 
for  thirty  years  governor  of  the  colony,  comes  down  to 
I646.1  Like  much  of  the  contemporary  prose  written 
in  England,  it  has  at  times  a  large  though  artless  beauty, 

1  The  manuscript  has  had  a  remarkable  history.  By  Bradford's 
grandson,  John  Bradford,  it  was  intrusted  to  Thomas  Prince,  who  used 
it  in  compiling  his  History  of  New  England.  Governor  Hutchinson  had 
it  when  he  published  the  second  volume  of  The  History  of  the  Province 
of  Afassachusetts  Bay,  in  1767.  From  that  time  no  one  knew  of  its 
whereabouts  for  many  years.  In  1855  it  was  discovered  to  be  in  the 
library  of  the  Bishop  of  London,  though  how  it  got  there  is  still  a  mys 
tery.  The  next  year  the  history  was  printed  for  the  first  time,  by  the 
Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  from  a  transcript  of  the  original.  In 
1897,  by  a  graceful  act  of  international  courtesy,  a  decree  of  the  Epis 
copal  Court  of  London  gave  the  manuscript  into  the  hands  of  the 
United  States  Ambassador,  to  be  by  him  delivered  to  the  Common 
wealth  of  Massachusetts.  This  was  done ;  and  the  precious  volume, 
"  bound  in  parchment,  once  white,  but  now  grimy  and  much  the  worse 
for  wear,"  after  long  and  strange  journeyings  rests  once  more  in  the 
nation  whose  founding  it  describes. 


DIARIES,   HISTORIES,  AND    DESCRIPTIONS.     19 

and  it  is  full  of  the  grave  and  solid  strength  of  a  man  fit 
to  build  empires  in  the  wilderness.  The  History  of  New 
England ,  by  JOHN  WINTHROP,  first  governor  of  Massa 
chusetts  Bay  Colony,  a  diary  of  events  for  the  years 
1630-1649,  has  much  the  same  qualities,  although  it  is 
more  prosaic  on  the  whole.  As  we  turn  the  pages  we 
get  many  interesting  glimpses  into  the  lives  and  minds 
of  the  New  England  Puritans.  We  read  that  bullets 
were  used  for  farthings ;  that  a  woman  "  had  a  cleft 
stick  put  on  her  tongue  half  an  hour,  for  reproaching 
the  elders  "  ;  that  a  drunkard  was  "  ordered  to  wear  a 
red  D  about  his  neck  for  a  year " ;  that  Rev.  John 
Cotton  was  desired  to  "  go  through  the  Bible  and  raise 
marginal  notes  upon  all  the  knotty  places  "  ;  that  the 
drowning  of  a  child  in  a  well  was  God's  punishment 
upon  the  father  for  working  after  sundown  the  Saturday 
before,  and  was  so  confessed  in  church  by  the  repentant 
Sabbath-breaker.1  More  winning  and  no  less  true  to  the 
Puritan  ideal  are  the  *  Letters  of  Winthrop  and  his  wife 
Margaret  to  each  other,  full  of  sweet  human  love  shelter 
ing  under  the  greater  love  of  God. 

Very  different  from  the  grave  Puritan  histories  is  the 
New  English  Canaan  (1637)  by  THOMAS  MORTON,  a 
rollicking  Royalist,  who  with  thirty  followers  established 
himself  at  "  Merrymount,"  near  Boston,  in  1626.  He 
set  up  a  Maypole  eighty  feet  high,  and  danced  about  it 
with  his  jolly  crew,  the  Indians  joining  in  the  revels, 
which  it  is  probable  were  not  wholly  innocent.  Morton's 
Puritan  neighbors,  greatly  scandalized,  cut  down  the 
wicked  Maypole ;  and  when  Morton  persisted  in  sell 
ing  guns  and  rum  to  the  Indians,  they  shipped  him  back 

1  The  History  of  New  England,  Vol.  I.,  passim,  ed.  1825. 


20  LITERATURE   IN   NEW   ENGLAND. 

to  England.  There  he  wrote  his  book,  describing  the 
country  and  making  fun  of  his  strait-laced  adversaries. 
Its  intrinsic  merits  are  small.  But  the  figure  of  Thomas 
Morton  dancing  about  his  Maypole  in  reckless  jollity, 
while  the  godly  look  on  with  horror-stricken  visages,  is 
like  a  dash  of  color  in  a  sombre  landscape,  and  we  could 
better  spare  a  better  man.1 

We  return  to  Puritanism  in  EDWARD  JOHNSON'S  Wonder- 
Working  Providence  of  Sion's  Saviour  (1654).  Johnson 
was  a  captain,  and  a  martial  spirit  animates  his  pages. 
The  planting  of  New  England  with  churches  of  the 
Reformed  Faith  is  the  beginning  of  God's  final  campaign 
against  Antichrist ;  the  colonists  are  soldiers  of  "  their 
glorious  King  Christ "  ;  and  the  ministers,  whose  work 
it  is  to  "  sound  forth  his  silver  Trumpets,"  are  exhorted 
to  "  blow  lowd  and  shrill,  to  this  chiefest  treble  tune  : 
*  For  the  Armies  of  the  great  Jehovah  are  at  hand.'" 
This  conception  gives  unity  and  even  a  kind  of  great 
ness  to  the  book.  But  in  form  it  is  crude  ;  much  of 
the  subject-matter  is  dry;  and  the  narrowness  and 
harshness  of  Puritanism  are  often  painfully  apparent. 

It  has  been  wittily  said  of  the  pious  settlers  of  New 
England  that  "  first  they  fell  on  their  knees  and  then 
they  fell  on  the  Indians."  The  truth  is,  rather,  that 
the  Puritan  sincerely  endeavored  to  convert  and  educate 
these  poor  children  of  the  forest ;  but  when  the  red  man 
became  hostile,  and  the  torch  and  tomahawk  began  their 
dreadful  work,  then  the  white  man  slew  without  mercy. 
Both  phases  of  the  colonists'  treatment  of  the  Indians 
are  represented  in  the  literature  of  the  period.  Captain 

1  See  Motley's  historical  romnnce,  Merry-Mount. 

2  Wonder-  Working  Providence,  pp.  23,  7,  ed.  1654. 


RELIGIOUS    AND   CONTROVERSIAL  WORKS.     21 

JOHN  MASON,  the  hero  of  the  Pequot  War,  became  in  his 
last  years  its  historian  also,  telling  the  story  of  that  terrible 
slaughter  in  the  swamp  with  a  rough  strength  that  fits  the 
subject  well,  and  ending  with  a  song  of  triumph  as  con 
fident  of  God's  approval  and  as  pitiless  toward  God's 
enemies  as  the  song  of  the  Israelites  at  the  Red  Sea. 
Very  different  in  spirit  are  the  writings  of  the  good 
JOHN  ELIOT,  which  tell  of  his  patient  labors  for  the 
salvation  of  the  Indians;  and  the  books  of  DANIEL 
GOOKIN,  which  describe  the  "Praying,"  or  Christian, 
Indians,  and  the  effect  of  the  gospel  upon  them. 

A  second  class  of  these  early  writings  consists  of  Re 
ligious  and  Controversial  Works.  The  modern  reader 
can  hardly  realize  how  large  a  place  in  the  life  of  the 
New  England  Puritans  was  filled  by  religion.  Attendance 
upon  church  was  a  pleasure  to  most,  a  duty  to  all.  Ab 
sence  was  punished  by  fines  or  the  stocks,  and  sleepers 
were  awakened  by  the  constable.  The  meeting-houses 
were  as  cold  as  barns  and  almost  as  bare.  The  services 
lasted  from  three  to  five  hours.  In  the  high  pulpit  stood 
the  minister,  awful  by  reason  of  his  learning,  piety, 
and  sacred  office,  and  stormed  Heaven  in  prodigiously 
long  prayers,  or  thundered  down  upon  the  pews  the  wrath 
of  God  in  a  sermon  laid  out  in  many  divisions  and  sub 
divisions,  all  bristling  with  proof-texts  and  buttressed 
with  invincible  logic.1  His  hearers  followed  the  thought 

1  "  Then  Mr.  Torrey  stood  up  and  pray'd  near  Two  Hours :  .  .  . 
towards  the  End  of  his  Prayer,  hinting  at  still  new  and  agreable  Scenes 
of  Tho't,  we  cou'd  not  help  wishing  Him  to  enlarge  upon  them:  .  .  . 
we  could  have  gladly  heard  Him  an  Hour  longer."— A  Harvard  stu 
dent,  writing  of  a  day  of  prayer  in  1696.  (Sibley's  Harvard  Graduates, 
Vol.  I.,  p.  566.)  "  He  [Thomas  Hooker]  preached  in  the  afternoon, 
and  having  gone  on  ...  about  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  he  was  at  a  stand, 
and  told  the  people,  that  God  had  deprived  him  both  of  his  strength 


22  LITERATURE    IN    NEW  ENGLAND. 

closely,  keen  to  detect  a  slip  in  orthodoxy  or  reasoning, 
many  taking  down  the  main  points  in  their  note-books. 
To  these  New  England  communities  the  sermon  was  the 
great  intellectual  and  literary  feast  of  the  week,  and  the 
ministers  were  their  great  men,  venerated  by  young  and 
old  and  deferred  to  even  by  the  magistrates.  Of  the 
early  clergymen  three  were  preeminent  above  the  rest — 
JOHN  COTTON,  THOMAS  SHEPARD,  and  *  THOMAS  HOOKER. 
All  three  were  graduates  of  Cambridge  University,  Eng 
land,  and  Cotton  had  been  famous  there  as  a  scholar 
and  preacher.  All  had  been  clergymen  of  the  English 
Church ;  but  being  hunted  out  of  England  because  of 
their  Puritanism,  they  fled  to  Massachusetts.  Cotton 
was  given  the  best  pulpit  in  Boston,  and  there  remained 
till  his  death,  in  1652,  the  acknowledged  leader  of  the 
New  England  clergy.  "In  his  countenance,"  says  Cotton 
Mather,  "  there  was  an  inexpressible  sort  of  Majesty,  which 
commanded  Reverence  from  all  that  approached  him." 1 
Thomas  Shepard,  pastor  at  Cambridge  from  1636  to 
1649,  was  greater  as  a  pulpit  orator,  having  a  manner 
peculiarly  sweet  and  persuasive  ;  his  theology  partook  of 
the  harshness  of  his  age  and  sect,  but  he  at  least  presented 
it  with  satisfying  sincerity  and  power.  Thomas  Hooker, 
who  with  his  congregation  founded  Hartford  in  1636, 
was  a  masterful  man,  of  whom  a  contemporary  said  that 
"while  doing  his  Master's  work"  he  "would  put  a  king 
in  his  pocket"  ;~  his  published  sermons  show  that  he  was 
a  powerful  orator. 

and  matter,  &c.  and  so  went  forth,  and  about  half  an  hour  after  returned 
again,  and  went  on  to  very  good  purpose  about  two  hours."  —  Winthrop's 
The  History  of  New  Ilngland,  Vol.  T.,  p.  304,  ed.  1825. 

1  ]\ltignalia,  Book  III.,  p.  28,  ed.  1702. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  64,  ed.  1702. 


RELIGIOUS   AN^    CONTROVERSIAL  WORKS.     23 

The  mood  of  the  Puritan  was  militant,  and  his  creed 
was  one  long  argument ;  hence  controversial  writings 
flowed  from  his  pen  like  water.  In  Puritan  England 
the  air  was  thick  with  pamphlets.  Even  Milton  delayed 
for  twenty  years  the  composition  of  his  great  epic  that  he 
might  serve  God  and  his  country  in  argumentative  prose. 
In  Puritan  New  England,  at  the  same  period,  contro 
versial  works  also  abounded,  for  the  Commonwealth  of 
the  Orthodox  had  found  enemies  without  and  within  to 
trouble  it  —  Quakers,  Anabaptists,  Familists,  Antinomians, 
and  what  not.  These  writings  have,  as  a  rule,  little  at 
traction  for  the  reader  of  to-day.  The  cruelly  persecuted 
Quakers  put  forth  petitions  and  denunciations,  noble  in 
spirit,  but  without  special  literary  merit.  The  writings 
of  ROGER  WILLIAMS  (i6oo?-i684)  have  permanent  value 
because  they  contain  great  thoughts.  In  an  age  when 
even  John  Milton,  pleading  for  toleration,  made  an  excep 
tion  of  "  Popery  and  open  superstition,"  which  he  said 
"should  be  extirpate,"1  this  Welsh  minister  boldly  pro 
claimed  the  doctrine  of  universal  "  soul-liberty,"  saying, 
"  It  is  the  will  and  command  of  God,  that  ...  a  permis 
sion  of  the  most  Paganish,  Jewish,  Turkish  or  Antichris- 
tian  consciences  and  worships,  be  granted  to  all  men  in 
all  Nations."  2  But  his  books  are  ill-proportioned,  diffuse, 
and  obscure  —  faults  which  they  share,  it  is  true,  with 
most  of  the  controversial  literature  of  the  day.  At  times, 
however,  he  has  passages  of  lucid  argument  or  impas 
sioned  eloquence ;  and  his  individual  sentences  are  now 
and  then  poetical,  as  when  he  says,  "  I  fear  not  so  much 
iron  and  steel  as  the  cutting  of  our  throats  with  golden 

1  Areopagitica  (1644),  p.  54,  Hales's  ed.,  1894. 

2  The  Bloody  Tenent,  prefatory  propositions,  ed.  1644. 


24  LITERATURE    IN    NEW  ENGLAND. 

knives,"  or  speaks  of  the  snow  as  the  "  white  legions  of 
the  Most  High."1  A  much  more  readable  little  book 
is  NATHANIEL  WARD'S  *The  Simple  Cobler  of  Aggawam 
(1647),  in  which  the  author  slashes  away,  with  more  wit 
than  wisdom,  in  a  racy,  epigrammatic  style,  at  the  mon 
strous  new  doctrine  of  toleration,  long  hair  on  men,  the 
follies  of  women's  dress,  and  other  errors  of  the  time. 
The  book  is  narrow-minded,  angry,  sometimes  abusive, 
but  it  is  also  amusing ;  within  a  year  it  went  through  four 
editions,  and  after  two  centuries  and  a  half  is  still  alive. 

There  is  yet  a  third  division  of  this  earliest  literature, 
its  Poetry.  The  first  known  poem  written  in  New  Eng 
land  was  Nova  Anglia  (1625),  by  WILLIAM  MORRELL,  a 
clergyman  of  the  English  Church,  who  resided  in  Massa 
chusetts  for  a  year  or  two.  The  poem  describes  the 
country  and  the  Indians,  and  is  written  in  elegant  Latin 
with  a  paraphrase  in  awkward  English  verse.2  The  New 
England  Puritans  were  enemies  to  art  in  general,  believ 
ing  that  its  pleasures  seduced  the  soul  from  God  ;  yet 
poetry  they  both  studied  and  practised.  The  classics  of 
Greece  and  Rome  formed  the  backbone  of  their  college 
curricula,  and  the  writing  of  English  verse,  chiefly  elegies 
and  epitaphs,  was  pursued  as  a  pious  duty  and  godly  rec 
reation  by  many  of  the  solemn  New  England  divines  and 
other  dignitaries.3  There  is  no  poetry  in  most  of  these 
poems,  which  are  filled  to  the  brim,  instead,  with  puns 

1  Letters,  in  Publications  of  Narragansett  Club,  Vol.  VI.,  pp.  15,  84. 

2  Griswold,  in  his  Poets  and  Poetry  of  America,  quotes  some  anony 
mous  doggerel  about  life  in  New  England,  which  he  says  is  "  believed 
to  have  been  written  about  the  year  1630." 

8  Morton's  New  England's  Memorial  entombs  many  of  these  remark 
able  productions.  Johnson's  Wonder-'Worki»g  Providence  is  inter 
spersed  with  the  worthy  captain's  would-be  metrical  manufactures;  to 
read  them  is  like  being  tossed  on  the  points  of  bayonets. 


SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY  POETRY.     25 

and  strained  "  conceits,"  in  imitation  of  the  contempo 
rary  "metaphysical"  or  "fantastic"  poets  of  England. 
Thus  the  Rev.  Samuel  Stone  was  lauded  as 

Whetstone,  that  edgefy'd  th'  obtusest  mind : 
Loadstone,  that  drew  the  iron  heart  unkind;   .  .  . 
A  stone  for  kingly  David's  use  so  fit, 
As  would  not  fail  Goliah's  front  to  hit.1 

And  Rev.  John  Cotton  was  described  as  "a  Living  Breath 
ing  Bible,"  where 

Gospel  and  Law,  in's  Heart,  had  Each  its  Column; 
His  Head  an  Index  to  the  Sacred  Volume; 
His  very  name  a  Title-Page j   and  next, 
His  Life  a  Commentary  on  the  Text.2 

In  The  Whole  Booke  of  Psalmes?  consisting  of  the  Psalms 
translated  into  English  verse  by  "  the  chief  divines  in  the 
country,"  to  be  sung  in  church,  the  style  and  verse  are 
simply  barbarous.  Some  of  the  lines  it  is  quite  impossi 
ble  to  scan  by  any  methods  however  heroic,  and  most  of 
them  clank  like  an  engine  with  gravel  in  the  bearings.4 
Let  a  few  lines  speak  for  the  whole  :  — 

1  By  "  E.  B."   (Edward  Bulkley  ?)    in  New  England's  Memorial, 
p.  180,  ed.  1772. 

2  B.  Woodbridge,  in  Magnalia,  Book  III.,  p.  31,  ed.  1702. 

3  Usually  known  as  The  Day  Psalm  Book. 

4  The   translators  themselves  say,  in  the  preface,  "  If  therefore  the 
verses  are  not  always  so  smooth  and  elegant  as  some  may  desire,  .  .  . 
wee  have  .  .  .  attended  .  .  .  fidelity  rather  then  poetry."     But  the  trans 
lators  of    The  Psalms,  Hymns,  and  Spiritual  Songs,  which  appeared  a 
few  years  later,  say  they  have  had  "  a  special  eye  both  to  the  gravity  of 
the  phrase  of  Sacred  Writ,  and  sweetness  of  the  Verse  "  —  with  what 
success  let  the  following  lines  from  the  Song  of  Deborah  testify  :  — 

He  water  ask'd,  she  gave  him  : 

in  Lordly  dish  she  fetch'd 
Him  butter  forth  :  unto  the  nayl 

she  forth  her  left  hand  stretch'd, 


26  LITERATURE   IN    NEW   ENGLAND. 

Then  th'  earth  shooke,  &  quak't,  &  mountaines 
roots  moov'd,  &  were  stird  at  his  ire. 

—  Psalm  18:  7.1 

In  death  no  mem'ry  is  of  thee 
and  who  shall  prayse  thee  in  the  grave  ? 
I  faint  with  groanes,  all  night  my  bed 
swims,  I  with  tears  my  couch  washt  have. 

—  Psalm  6:5,  6. i 

But  better  things  were  coming.  In  1650  there  ap 
peared  in  London  a  volume  of  poems  entitled,  The  Tenth 
Muse  lately  sprung  up  in  America.  The  Tenth  Muse 
was  *Mrs.  ANNE  BRADSTREET  (1613-1672),  wife  of  Gov 
ernor  Simon  Bradstreet  and  daughter  of  Governor 
Thomas  Dudley.  Her  longest  poem,  The  Foure  Mon 
archies,  is  a  bald,  dry  chronicle  in  rhyme.  The  Foure 
Elements,  The  Foure  Humours,  Hie  Four  Ages  of  Man, 
and  *The  Foure  Seasons  are  not  much  better,  although 
they  occasionally  have  considerable  vivacity  and  vividness. 
But  in  some  of  her  shorter  poems  appear  a  lightness  and 
prettiness,  a  feminine  tenderness  and  fancy ;  while  in 
the  Spenser-like  stanzas  called  *  Contemplations  there  is 
much  sweetness  and  flow  of  verse,  and  the  pictures  of 
nature  have  a  good  deal  of  placid  beauty.  In  more 
favorable  circumstances,  Mrs.  Bradstreet  would  probably 
have  developed  into  a  very  intellectual  woman  and  a 
beautiful  minor  poet.2  But  Puritanism  and  the  crudeness 

Her  right  hand  to  the  workmans  maul 

and  Sisera  hammered : 
She  pierc'd  and  struck  his  temples  through, 
and  then  cut  off  his  head. 

—  The  Psalms,  Hymns,  and 

Spiritual  Songs,  ed.  i6s8(?). 

1  The  Whole  Dooke  of  Psalmcs,  ed.  1640. 

2  Among  her  descendants  were  W.  E.  Channing,  R.  H.  Dana,  Wen- 


SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY  POETRY.     27 

of  the  New  World  stunted  her  mental  growth  and  clipped 
her  wings  of  song.  She  took  for  her  models  the  poorer 
half  of  the  literature  of  her  day.  Spenser  she  indeed 
knew,  and  Raleigh's  noble  History  of  the  World  was  the 
basis  of  her  Foure  Monarchies.  But  Shakspere  and  his 
fellow  dramatists  she  never  mentions ;  no  doubt  to  her, 
as' to  all  her  sect,  they  were  sons  of  Belial.  Her  favorite 
poets  seem  to  have  been  of  the  "  fantastic  "  school,  who 
had  more  gift  for  puns  and  quirks  and  ingenious  con 
ceits  than  for  the  passion,  imagination,  and  melody  of 
true  poesie. 

New  England  Puritanism  found  its  poet-laureate  in 
MICHAEL  WIGGLESWORTH  (1631-1705),  a  graduate  of 
Harvard  College,  and  pastor  and  physician  at  Maiden. 
His  Meat  out  of  the  Eater  (1669),  on  the  "  usefulness  of 
afflictions,"  teaches  that 

We  must  not  on  the  Knee 

Be  always  dandled, 
Nor  must  we  think  to  ride  to  Heaven 

Upon  a  Feather-bed.1 

His  masterpiece  is  *The  Day  of  Doom  (i662?),2  for 
a  century  the  most  popular  book  in  New  England  after 
the  Bible  and  the  Catechism.  The  essence  of  Calvinism 

dell  Phillips,  and  O.  W.  Holmes.  Her  Meditations  contain  some 
pithy  sayings  :  "  Authority  without  wisedom  is  like  a  heavy  axe  without 
an  edg,  fitter  to  bruise  then  polish;"  "  Dimne  eyes  are  the  concomi 
tants  of  old  age;  and  short  sightednes  in  those  that  are  eyes  of  a 
Republique,  fortels  a  declineing  State."  See  the  1867  edition  of  her 
works,  pp.  Ixix,  50,  55. 

1  Meat  out  of  the  Eater,  p.  4,  ed.  1717. 

2  See   The  Historical  Magazine,  December,  1863,  for  an  article  by 
John  W.  Dean,  containing  memoranda  by  Wigglesworth,  about  the 
dates  of  the  two  poems.     The  first  edition  of  The  Day  of  Doom,  of  1800 
copies,  was  nearly  all  sold  in  a  year. 


28  LITERATURE  IN    NEW    ENGLAND. 

is  in  the  poem.  Christ  suddenly  appears  in  the  sky  at 
midnight,  in  a  blinding  glory ;  the  quick  and  the  dead 
are  brought  before  him ;  the  various  classes  of  the  lost, 
including  non-elect  infants,  plead  for  mercy  with  much 
logical  acumen,  but  are  all  refuted  by  Christ ;  the  plunge 
into  a  lurid  physical  hell  follows,  the  infants  being  as 
signed  to  "  the  easiest  room  "  ; l  and  the  saints,  sorrowing 
not  "  a  whit  " l  for  the  damnation  of  wife,  husband,  parent, 
or  child  ("  such  compassion  "  being  now  "out  of  fashion, 
and  wholly  laid  aside"1),  ascend  into  heaven  to  enjoy 
its  pleasures  forever.  In  manner  The  Day  of  Doom  is 
dreadfully  crabbed  and  harsh ;  but  the  metre  has  a 
cheap  jingle  pleasing  to  dull  ears,  while  the  crude 
strength  and  bald  realism  of  the  style  suited  the 
Yankee  Puritan's  strenuous,  practical  mind.  There  is 
sublimity,  too,  in  the  horrible  conceptions  of  the  poem, 
but  it  is  the  ghastly  sublimity  of  a  colossal  skeleton 
grinning  the  grin  of  Eternal  Death.  How  hard  and 
narrow  and  meanly  literal  this  epic  of  New  England 
Calvinism  is,  how  devoid  of  the  noble  sublime  with  its 
attendant  grace  and  beauty,  becomes  painfully  apparent 
when  we  compare  it  with  another  Puritan  poem  of  the 
same  period  and  upon  a  similar  theme  —  the  Paradise 
Lost  of  John  Milton.2 

The  last  quarter  of  the  seventeenth  century  was  marked 
by  changes,  significant  for  literature,  in  the  spirit  of  the 
colonists.  Most  of  the  inhabitants  of  New  England  were 
now  American  born,  loving  the  land  of  their  fathers  but 

1  The  Day  of  Doom,  stanzas  181,  197,  196,  ed.  1715. 

2  The  Day  of  Doom  may  have  been  somewhat  influenced  by  Stir 
ling's  Doomes-Day  (1614),  although  the  similarity  in  general  plan  and 
occasionally  in  expression  is  perhaps  sufficiently  accounted  for  by  their 
having  a  common  original. 


COTTON    MATHER.  29 

regarding  America  as  their  own  country.  Society  and 
state  were  becoming  more  secular  and  liberal.  The  right 
to  vote  was  no  longer  confined  to  members  of  Congrega 
tional  churches ;  the  growth  of  population,  trade,  and 
wealth  brought  with  it  a  widening  of  interests ;  religion 
and  the  church  filled  a  relatively  smaller  place ;  and  the 
severity  of  Puritan  morals  and  the  intolerance  of  Puritan 
theology  began  to  be  somewhat  relaxed.1  Yet  Religious 
and  Controversial  Writings  abounded  as  before ;  for  the 
clergy  were  still  powerful,  and  the  supposed  degeneracy 
of  the  times  urged  them  to  activity.2  In  particular,  COT 
TON  MATHER  (1663-1728),  the  great  man  of  his  day, 
set  himself  to  stem  the  ebbing  tide.  He  was  the  grand 
son  of  two  of  the  early  giants,  John  Cotton  and  Richard 
Mather ;  and  his  father,  Increase  Mather,  was  president 
of  Harvard  College,  a  powerful  preacher,  and  prolific 
author.  In  his  sixteenth  year  Mather  received  the 
bachelor's  degree  at  Harvard ;  and  before  he  was  nine 
teen,  the  master's  degree.  He  then  became  his  father's 

1  John  Cotton  approved  of  the  banishment  of  Roger  Williams  in 
1636.     His  grandson,  Cotton  Mather,  in  1718  preached  the  sermon  at 
the  ordination  of  a  Baptist  minister. 

2  The  worldly  vanity  of  wearing  wigs,   a  custom  which   was   now 
becoming  common  among  the  descendants  of  the  "  Round-heads,"  is 
thus  attacked  by  Benjamin   Bosworth  in  Signs  of  Apostacy  Lamented 
(1693)  :  - 

When  Perriwigs  in  Thrones  and  Pulpits  get, 
And  Hairy  Top-knots  in  high  Seats  are  set ; 
Then  may  we  Pray,  have  Mercy  Lord  on  us, 
That  in  New-England  it  should  now  be  thus, 
Which  in  time  past  a  Land  of  Pray'r  hath  been, 
But  now  is  Pray'r  turn'd  out  of  Doors  by  Sin.  .  .  . 
Art  thou  a  Christian,  O  then  why  dost  wear 
Upon  thy  Sacred  Head,  the  filthy  Hair 
Of  some  vile  Wretch,  by  foul  Disease  that  fell, 
Whose  Soul  perhaps  is  burning  now  in  Hell  ? 


30  LITERATURE    IN    NEW    ENGLAND. 

assistant  in  the  pastorate  of  the  North  Church,  Boston, 
where  he  remained  till  death.  Cotton  Mather  read 
enormously  in  many  languages,  preached  thousands  of 
sermons,  and  published  three  hundred  and  eighty-three 
pamphlets  or  books.1  It  is  no  wonder  that  such  a  man 
wrote  over  his  study  door,  as  a  warning  to  visitors,  BE 
SHORT.  In  boyhood  he  composed  forms  of  prayer  for 
his  school-fellows  and  "  obliged  them  to  pray."  In  later 
life,  each  day  was  packed  full  of  prayers,  study,  and  minis 
trations  public  or  private.  He  kept  more  than  four  hun 
dred  fasts,  besides  many  midnight  vigils,  when  he  lay  for 
hours  on  his  study  floor,  now  in  agonies  over  his  "  vile- 
ness,"  now  in  spiritual  ecstasy.  At  odd  moments  through 
out  the  day  he  wedged  in  pious  ejaculations,  at  one  time 
fining  himself  for  each  omission  —  which  worked  a  speedy 
cure.  Every  incident  must  be  spiritually  improved  :  on 
meeting  a  tall  man  he  would  pray,  "  Lord,  give  that  man 
high  attainments  in  Christianity  "  ;  "  and  when  he  did  so 
mean  an  action  as  paring  his  nails,  he  thought  how  he 
might  lay  aside  all  superfluity  of  naughtiness."  In  his 
writings  Mather  strove  mightily  to  bring  New  England 
back  to  the  Puritan  ideal  of  godliness.  This  purpose  is 
the  inspiration  of  his  great  work,  *Magnalia  Christi 
Americana :  or,  the  Ecclesiastical  History  of  New-Eng 
land  ( 1 702) ,  which  treats  of  the  planting  of  New  England, 
the  lives  of  eminent  magistrates  and  divines,  Harvard  Col 
lege,  the  New  England  churches,  wonderful  providences 
(including  cases  of  witchcraft),  and  "  the  Wars  of  the 

1  Samuel  Mather's  Life  of  Cotton  Mather,  p.  178,  ed.  1729 ;  from 
which  most  of  the  other  facts,  and  all  the  quotations,  about  Mather  are 
also  taken.  Sabin's  Dibliotheca  Americana  attributes  four  hundred  and 
eleven  works  to  Cotton  Mather.  Three  hundred  and  eighty-three  are 
enough. 


COTTON  MATHER.  31 

Lord,"  or  the  struggles  with  Quakers,  Anabaptists,  Ind 
ians,  and  other  disturbers  of  the  peace  of  the  Puritan  elect. 
The  book  has  some  historical  value,  because  the  writer 
was  so  near  to  the  events  narrated;  but  it  is  careless, 
fantastic,  and  full  of  pedantry,  the  pages  being  crammed 
with  Latin,  Greek,  and  Hebrew,  learned  digressions,  and 
abominable  puns.  Yet  the  narrative  portions  sometimes 
have  considerable  interest,  anecdotes  frequently  enliven 
an  otherwise  dull  passage,  and  the  whole  book  is  impres 
sive  by  its  bulky  strength.  Cotton  Mather's  contempo 
rary  reputation  in  America  was  very  great,  and  it  even 
extended  to  the  Old  World.1  He  lives  still,  after  a 
fashion,  as  the  most  conspicuous  American  writer  of  the 
seventeenth  century.  Yet  on  the  whole  his  life  was  a 
failure,  and  has  the  pathos  of  failure ;  for  he  fought  on 
the  side  of  a  doomed  cause.  Puritanism  was  passing 
away,  never  to  return,  and  even  Cotton  Mather  battled 
for  it  in  vain.2 


1  Glasgow  University  gave  him  the  degree  of  D.D.;  and  he  at  least 
believed  that  he  had  been  made  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society,  although 
the  letter  which  he  received  announcing  his  election  seerns  to  have  been 
a  hoax,  as  the  records  of  the  Society  are  silent  upon  the  point. 

2  The  titles  of  the  chief  writings  of  Cotton  and  of  Increase  Mather 
upon  witchcraft  can  be  seen  in  Appendix,  C.     It  is  easy  to  exaggerate 
the  culpability  of  the  Mathers  in  the  horrible  delusion  of  the  Salem 
Witchcraft.     Belief  in  witches  was  still  common  throughout  the  civil 
ized  world,  some  of  the  best  and  wisest  men  in  England  sharing  in  it. 
In  New  England,  furthermore,   there  was  a  popular   theory  that   the 
legions  of  the  Devil,  largely  driven  out  of  Christian  Europe,  had  taken 
refuge  in  the  wilds  of  America ;  and  that,  dismayed  and  furious  at  the 
Puritans'  attack  upon  this  their  final  stronghold,  they  had  marshalled 
their  forces  for  one  desperate  assault  upon  the  New  England  Theoc 
racy.     In  the  supposed  degeneracy  of  the  New  England  churches  of 
his  day  Cotton  Mather  thus  saw  the  special  hand  of  the  Devil ;  and  the 
witches  were  soldiers   of  the    Prince  of   Darkness  in  the  same  great 
campaign.    This  conception  was  a  large  one,  and  is  a  good  example  of 


32  LITERATURE    IN    NEW   ENGLAND. 

Of  the  many  able  New  England  divines  in  the  first 
half  of  the  eighteenth  century  three  may  be  mentioned 
as  representative  —  JOHN  WISE,  BENJAMIN  COLMAN,  and 
MATHER  BYLES.  The  writings  of  all  reveal  the  influence 
of  the  simpler,  clearer,  more  systematic  prose  style  which 
had  begun  to  prevail  in  England  before  the  end  of  the 
preceding  century.  Wise,  a  man  of  powerful  body  and 
powerful  mind,  whose  fame  has  not  equalled  his  deserts, 
in  his  two  books  on  church  government  shows  broad 
democratic  principles,  masterful  logic,  and  a  sinewy  style 
enlivened  by  sarcasm  and  humor.  Colman  was  a  man 
of  great  personal  charm  and  charitable  spirit,  a  fascinat 
ing  pulpit  orator,  and  a  writer  of  polished  Addisonian  Eng 
lish.  Byles,  poet,  wit,  and  man  of  letters,  cultivated  the 
graces  of  style  as  an  element  in  the  preacher's  power,  and 
in  the  following  advice  to  young  ministers  he  aims  directly 
at  faults  of  the  older  style  :  "  Rattling  periods,  uncouth 
jargon,  affected  phrases,  and  finical  jingles  — let  them 


the  gloomy  but  powerful  poetry  which  underlay  the  prosaic  life  of  the 
New  England  Puritans,  in  whom  such  imaginations  had  been  quickened 
by  the  romance  and  mystery  of  the  New  World  with  its  strange  natives 
and  vast  and  wooded  solitudes.  The  conception  was  also  a  perfectly 
natural  one  for  men  holding  the  Puritan  theology  and  confronted  with 
a  series  of  mysterious  facts  much  like  the  modern  phenomena  of  spirit 
ualism,  clairvoyance,  and  hypnotism.  Some  allowance  must  also  be 
made  for  the  panic  which  always  threatens  individuals  and  communi 
ties  in  the  presence  of  supposedly  supernatural  agencies  with  mys 
terious  and  unlimited  power.  •  New  England  was  badly  scared  by  the 
witches,  and  there  is  nothing  more  cruel  than  fear.  It  should,  however, 
be  remembered  to  Cotton  Mather's  credit  that  he  did  not  believe  in 
convicting  witches  on  "  spectral  evidence  "  alone,  for  the  characteristic 
reason  that  the  devils  might  have  power  to  cause  the  apparitions  of  in 
nocent  persons  to  be  seen  by  the  bewitched  as  the  cause  of  their  tor 
ments,  and  the  "  campaign  "  against  the  godly  thus  go  on  all  the  more 
merrily ;  he  believed  in  the  efficacy  of  fasting  and  prayer,  and  himself 
tried  this  means  of  exorcism  with  some  success. 


JONATHAN    EDWARDS.  33 

be   ...  hissed   from   the   desk   and   blotted   from   the 
page."1 

In  the  case  of  most  of  the  clergymen  of  this  period  the 
new  graces  were  accompanied  by  some  loss  of  the  old 
power.  Not  so  with  JONATHAN  EDWARDS  (1703-1758), 
one  of  the  great  philosophical  intellects  of  the  world. 
He  graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1720;  was  tutor  there 
for  awhile;  in  1727  was  ordained  at  Northampton;  in 
1751  became  missionary  to  a  settlement  of  Indians  near 
Stockbridge;  assumed  the  presidency  of  Princeton  Col 
lege  in  1758,  but  died  soon  after  from  inoculation  for 
small  pox.  In  the  popular  mind  Jonathan  Edwards  is 
merely  the  author  of  *  Sinners  in  the  Hands  of  an  Angry 
God  (1741),  the  terrible  preacher  of  the  most  hateful 
dogmas  of  Calvinism  —  a  wholly  inadequate  view  of  a 
wonderful  man.  Personally  he  was  of  almost  angelic 
sweetness  and  purity,  an  intellectual  saint  rapt  into  high 
communion  with  the  Invisible ;  and  his  conception  of 
God,  although  it  included  many  dark  and  terrible  things, 
also  dwelt  with  ecstasy  upon  the  ineffable  Love  and 
Beauty  of  the  Divine  Being.  He  was  an  idealist  and 
essentially  a  poet,  seeing  in  the  brightest  glories  of  the 
material  universe  only  a  dim  shadow  of  the  blinding 
Loveliness  of  Infinite  Spirit.  His  intellect  was  of  the 
first  order.  At  twelve  he  thought  and  wrote  in  a  way 
beyond  the  power  of  most  men ;  while  a  tutor  at  Yale  he 
showed  remarkable  originality  in  science,  suggesting  the 
existence  of  a  cosmic  ether  and  demonstrating  that  the 
fixed  stars  are  suns  ;  and  his  Freedom  of  the  Will  (1754) 
has  been  called  "the  one  large  contribution  which 

1  Ordination  sermon,  New  London,  1758,  as  quoted  in  Tyler's  A  His 
tory  of  American  Literature,  Vol.  II.,  p.  195. 
D 


34  LITERATURE   IN  NEW    ENGLAND. 

America  has  made  to  the  deeper  philosophic  thought  of  the 
world."1  As  a  preacher,  Edwards  had  wonderful  power. 
In  his  little  parish  at  Northampton  began  the  Great 
Awakening,  for  which  the  churches  of  New  England 
had  thirsted  for  half  a  century,  and  which  spread  over 
America  and  extended  even  to  Great  Britain.  He  usually 
read  his  sermons,  and  his  manner  was  very  quiet.  But 
the  style  was  clear  as  light,  the  logic  cumulative  and  un 
answerable,  the  spiritual  intensity  tremendous.  His 
hearers  felt  themselves  in  the  grip  of  a  giant  intellect. 
Pitilessly  it  laid  bare  their  sins.  Irresistibly  it  dragged 
them,  all  vile,  into  the  presence  of  Absolute  Holiness 
and  Inexorable  Justice.  Hell  flamed  beneath  them.  It 
yawned  to  catch  them.  Women  fainted  ;  men  cried  out 
in  agony ;  only  the  preacher  was  calm,  and  his  calmness 
was  more  terrible  than  excitement.  In  taking  leave  of 
Jonathan  Edwards,  it  is  impossible  not  to  regret  that  his 
environment  led  him  so  largely  to  waste  his  magnificent 
powers  upon  theological  problems  which  the  world  was 
soon  to  leave  behind.  If  he  could  have  given  himself 
to  literature,  science,  or  pure  philosophy,  mankind  would 
be  the  richer.  Yet  as  it  is,  he  is  one  of  the  very  few 
American  writers  whose  fame  is  world-wide. 

Journals,  Narratives,  and  Histories  were  even  more 
numerous  in  this  later  portion  of  the  colonial  period  than 
in  the  earlier.  The  * Diary  of  Judge  SAMUEL  SEWALL, 
from  1674  to  1729,  gives  very  interesting  and  sometimes 
very  amusing  pictures  of  the  man  and  the  times  —  the 


1  See  A.  V.  G.  Allen's  life  of  Edwards  (American  Religious  Leaders 
series),  p.  283,  where  the  quotation  is  given,  anonymously.  For  a 
statement  of  Edwards's  main  theses  about  the  will,  see  page  192  of  this 
History. 


JOURNALS,  NARRATIVES,   AND    HISTORIES.     35 

harmless  vanity,  love  of  creature  comforts,  hatred  of 
wigs,  and  mingled  shrewdness  and  simplicity  of  the  one ; 
the  political  troubles,  quaint  customs,  systematic  piety, 
and  abundance  of  human  nature  (regenerate  and  unre- 
generate)  in  the  other.  The  ^Journal  of  SARAH  K. 
KNIGHT,  containing  an  account  of  her  journey  from 
Boston  to  New  York  in  1704,  is  one  of  the  most  enter 
taining  things  in  American  colonial  literature,  light  of 
touch,  graphic,  bubbling  over  with  wit  and  humor. 
Indian  troubles,  King  Philip's  War  in  particular,  sup 
plied  much  interesting  material  for  histories  and  per 
sonal  narratives.  WILLIAM  HUBBARD'S  Narrative  of  the 
Troubles  with  the  Indians  (1677),  written  in  plain, 
clear  style  which  the  subject-matter  sometimes  lifts 
into  graphicness,  soon  became  a  classic  and  is  good 
reading  still.  The  * Narrative  of  the  Captivity  (1682?), 
by  MARY  ROWLANDSON,  who  was  made  a  captive  by  the 
Indians  during  King  Philip's  War,  describes,  in  words 
that  bring  the  dreadful  scenes  powerfully  before  the  eye, 
the  burning  of  Lancaster,  the  bloody  slaughter  of  men, 
women,  and  children,  her  weary  journeyings  through  the 
wilds  with  her  brutal  captors  (she  carrying  her  wounded 
baby  in  her  arms) ,  and  her  final  ransom.  JOHN  WILLIAMS'S 
The  Redeemed  Captive  (1707)  is  a  narrative  of  similar  ex 
periences  after  the  burning  of  Deerfield  by  the  Indians  in 
1 704.  THOMAS  CHURCH'S  Entertaining  Passages  Relating 
to  Philip's  War  (1716)  was  based  upon  the  notes  of  the 
author's  father,  Benjamin  Church,  the  doughty  Indian 
fighter,  whose  forces  finally  caught  and  slew  the  great 
chief;  and  a  hearty,  idiomatic  piece  of  writing  it  is,  con 
taining  many  exciting  scenes.  The  histories  of  PENHALLOW 
(i726),CALLENDER  (i  739) ,  DOUGLASS  ( f  755 ),  and  others, 


36  LITERATURE   IN    NEW   ENGLAND. 

although  valuable,  are  less  significant  than  THOMAS  PRINCE'S 
Chronological  History  of  New  England  (1736),  which 
by  its  scholarly  carefulness  and  fairness  prophesied  future 
methods  of  writing  history,  and  was  "  the  most  meritori 
ous  piece  of  historical  work  published  in  America  up  to 
that  date."  J 

Poetry  in  these  same  years  shows,  on  the  whole,  little 
real  improvement.  "  Fantastic "  hobbling  elegies  and 
other  poems  continued  to  be  written  for  a  while.  COT 
TON  MATHER,  unwilling  to  be  outdone  in  anything,  pro 
duced  several  of  atrocious  badness.2  JOHN  NORTON,  JOHN 
ROGERS,  and  URIAN  OAKES  wrote  with  some  dignity  and 
imagination,  although  the  total  effect  is  greatly  marred 
by  extravagances  and  unnatural  "conceits."3  Honest 
PETER  FOLGER  blurted  out  a  blunt,  manly  plea  for  reli 
gious  toleration,  in  homely  verse  that  at  least  cannot  be 

1  Tyler's  A  History  of  American  Literature,  Vol.  II.,  p.  145.     In  his 
love  of  accuracy  and  original  sources   Prince  belongs  to  the  contem 
porary  "  erudite  "  school  of  historians,  who  all  over  Europe  were  amass 
ing,  with  a  painstaking  and   critical   spirit  that  was  new,   vast  stores 
of  material  for  the  re-writing  of  history.     Stith's  The  History  of  Virginia 
shows  the  same  tendency.     See  Professor  J.  F.  Jameson's    The  Devel 
opment  of  Modern  European  Historiography,  in  The  Atlantic  Monthly, 
September,  1890. 

2  In  his  elegy  on  Oakes  (p.  n,  ed.  1682)  he  stays  his  tears  to  remark, 

How  many  Angels  on  a  Needle's  point 

Can  stand,  is  thought,  perhaps,  a  needless  Point ; 

and,  in  the  preface  to  the  same  poem,  for  the  consolation  of  bereaved 
Boston  he  presents  the  anagram,  Sob  Not.  His  more  impassioned 
elegiac  style  may  be  seen  in  these  lines  from  Vigilantius,  a  poem  occa 
sioned  by  the  death  of  seven  young  ministers  {Elegies  and  Epitaphs,  a 
reprint  in  The  Club  of  Odd  Volumes,  1896) :  — 

Churches,  Weep  on ;  &  Wounded  yield  your  Tears ; 
Tears  use  to  flow  from  hack't  New  English  Firrs. 

8  See  Norton's  and  Rogers's  eulogies  on  Anne  Bradstreet,  in  the  1867 
edition  of  her  works. 


EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY   POETRY.  37 

accused  of  artifice.  BENJAMIN  THOMSON'S  poems  show 
some  satiric  vigor  and  give  promise  of  better  things  to 
come.  Yet  NICHOLAS  NOYES,  the  last  and  perhaps  the 
worst  of  the  fantastics,  did  not  cease  from  his  ingenious 
devices  in  punning  song  until  the  eighteenth  century 
was  well  on  its  way.1  But  the  new  school  of  poetry  in 
England,  represented  by  Dryden  and  Pope,  was  already 
affecting  American  verse,  and  early  in  the  eighteenth 
century  it  became  supreme.  The  good  sense,  clearness, 
and  polish  of  this  so-called  "  classic  "  poetry,  its  conven 
tional  diction,  too,  its  overfondness  for  antithesis,  balance, 
and  other  rhetorical  tricks,  its  tendency  in  general  to 
smooth  commonplace  and  frigid  propriety,  are  all  echoed 
in  the  poems  of  FRANCIS  KNAPP,  BENJAMIN  COLMAN,  JANE 
TURRELL,  ROGER  WOLCOTT,  MATHER  BYLES,  Rev.  JOHN 
ADAMS,  and  others.2  In  *A  Collection  of  Poems  by 
several  Hands  (1744),  along  with  much  commonplace 
and  some  doggerel  are  a  few  rather  pretty  or  vivacious 
lines,  while  the  poem  describing  a  commencement  at 
Harvard  contains  several  lively  passages.  The  coarse 
verses  of  JOHN  SECCOMB,  although  much  overrated,  have 
some  humor;  and  those  of  *  JOSEPH  GREEN  are  often 
bright  and  witty.  The  rough  ballads  of  the  time,  such 
as  the  anonymous  LoveweWs  Fight  (1725),  have  native 
vigor  and  spirit.  SAMUEL  NILES'S  A  Brief  and  Plain 
Essay  (1747),  on  the  reduction  of  Louisburg,  is  nothing 
but  rhymed  prose  of  the  baldest,  dreariest  sort.  JOHN 
MAYLEM'S  Conquest  of  Louisburg  (1758)  and  Gallic 

1  A  Prefatory  Poem  in  the  Magnalia  is  by  Noyes. 

2  Byles  wrote  a  letter  of  fulsome  flattery  to  Pope,  and  received  in  re 
turn  a  copy  of  the  latter's  translation  of  the  Odyssey.     See  Stedman  and 
Hutchinson's  A  Library  of  American  Literature,  Vol.  II.,  p.  431,  for  the 
letter. 


38     LITERATURE   IN  THE   OTHER   COLONIES. 

Perfidy  (1758)  are  all  in  valiant  Pistol's  swaggering  vein, 
amusing  instances  of  rant  mistaken  for  force,  and  bom 
bast  for  sublimity.  The  line, 

Death,  blunderbuss,  artillery,  and  blood  ! l 

both  exemplifies  and  describes  the  style  of  this  gory- 
minded  poet,  who  took  for  his  pseudonyme/%//0-/fc///////. 
After  these  exhibitions  of  New  World  crudeness  and  bad 
taste,  it  is  almost  a  pleasure  to  turn  to  the  smooth  con 
ventionalisms  of  Pic  fas  et  Gratulatio  (1761),  a  collection 
of  poems  in  Latin,  Greek,  and  English,  by  graduates  of 
Harvard,  mourning  the  death  of  George  II.,  and  hailing 
the  accession  of  George  III.  in  strains  of  extravagant 
praise  which  the  events  of  the  next  few  years  were  to 
make  doubly  ridiculous.  The  time  for  New  England  to 
speak  in  verse  was  not  yet  come.  Her  best  utterance 
as  yet  had  been  in  prose ;  and  that,  as  we  have  seen,  was 
far  from  despicable. 

3.   LITERATURE  IN  THE  OTHER  COLONIES. 

The  Carolinas  and  Georgia  produced  little  literature 
in  colonial  times.  JOHN  ARCHDALE,  formerly  governor 
of  the  colony,  published  in  1707  A  New  Description  of 
That  Fertile  and  Pleasant  Province  of  Carolina.  Two 
years  later  appeared  The  History  of  Carolina  by  JOHN 
LAWSON,  containing  his  journal  of  a  thousand  miles  of 
travel  in  South  Carolina,  a  description  of  North  Carolina, 
and  an  account  of  the  Indians ;  the  book  is  written  in  a 
free,  flowing  style,  and  is  packed  full  of  keen  observation. 
The  letters  of  ELIZA  PINCKNEY  afford  interesting  glimpses 

1  The  Conquest  of  Louisburg,  p.  6,  ed.  1775  (?). 


THE   MIDDLE   COLONIES.  39 

of  life  in  South  Carolina  in  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  showing  that  in  Charleston  there  was  much  social 
gayety  and  considerable  literary  culture.  A  New  Voyage 
to  Georgia  (1737),  "by  a  young  gentleman,"  gives  a 
vivid  idea  of  the  difficulty  of  travelling  in  a  new  country 
covered  with  woods,  creeks,  and  swamps,  and  describes 
some  interesting  incidents  in  a  lively  way.  Several  other 
descriptions  of  the  young  colony  were  published  at  about 
the  same  time.  Among  them  was  A  True  and  Historical 
Narrative  of  the  Colony  of  Georgia  (1741),  by  PATRICK 
TAILFER  and  other  discontents,  an  arraignment  of  Gov 
ernor  Oglethorpe  for  alleged  mismanagement ;  it  is  writ 
ten  in  strong,  finished  style,  and  the  dedication  to 
Oglethorpe  is  a  fine  piece  of  irony. 

Of  the  Middle  Colonies  Pennsylvania  alone  developed 
much  literary  activity.  In  Maryland  the  only  two  not 
able  works  were  written  by  temporary  sojourners  in  the 
colony.  GEORGE  ALSOP'S  A  Character  of  the  Province  of 
Mary- Land  (1666),  in  verse  and  prose,  is  a  "  medley  of 
frolicsome  papers,"  full  of  "  grotesque  and  slashing  en 
ergy,"  J  describing  the  colony  and  its  inhabitants.  Half 
a  century  later  appeared  The  Sot-  Weed  Factor :  Or,  A 
Voyage  to  Maryland  (1708),  by  EBENEZER  COOK;  the 
poem  is  often  coarse  and  sometimes  dull,  but  it  has  many 
spirited  scenes  and  a  good  deal  of  real  humor.  In  1670 
DANIEL  DENTON  put  out  a  rather  fresh  little  book  paint 
ing  life  in  the  colony  of  New  York  in  rosy  colors,  with 
occasional  pretty  strokes  of  description.  CADWALLADER 
GOLDEN  of  New  York  wrote  a  History  of  the  Five  Indian 
Nations  (1727),  filled  with  petty  engagements  dryly 
told  and  dull  speeches ;  the  introduction,  however,  has 

1  Tyler's  A  History  of  American  Literature,  Vol.  I.,  p.  66. 


40     LITERATURE   IN    THE  OTHER   COLONIES. 

some  interesting  descriptions  of  Indian  customs.  WIL 
LIAM  SMITH'S  The  History  of  New  York  (1757)  is  a  plain 
and  heavy  work,  but  contains  valuable  information.  A  man 
of  greater  literary  gifts  was  WILLIAM  LIVINGSTON,  promi 
nent  as  a  statesman  in  the  period  of  the  Revolution ;  his 
first  appearance,  however,  was  as  a  poet  in  Philosophic 
Solitude  (1747),  which  is  written  in  the  conventional 
eighteenth-century  manner,  but  is  smooth  and  pretty. 

In  literary  activity  Pennsylvania  soon  became  second 
only  to  Massachusetts,  more  than  four  hundred  original 
books  or  pamphlets  being  printed  in  Philadelphia  before 
the  Revolution.1  William  Penn  and  his  associates  in  the 
founding  of  the  colony  believed  in  education  and  intel 
lectual  freedom ;  "  before  the  pines  had  been  cleared 
from  the  ground  he  began  to  build  schools  and  set  up  a 
printing  press,"2  and  "through  every  turnpike  in  that 
province  ideas  travelled  toll  free." 3  PENN  himself  during 
his  residence  in  the  colony  wrote  nothing  except  letters ; 
these,  however,  are  pleasant  reading,  something  of  the 
large,  calm  beauty  of  his  spirit  passing  into  his  style. 
The  long  letter  written  in  1683  to  the  Free  Society  of 
Traders  contains  an  interesting  description  of  the  Ind 
ians,  whose  friendship  Pen.-.i  so  well  knew  how  to  win.4 
GABRIEL  THOMAS  published  an  account  of  the  province 
in  1698,  a  rather  pleasing  little  book  for  its  simpleness 
and  innocent  exaggeration.5  JONATHAN  DICKENSON,  a 

1  T.  I.  Wharton's  The  Provincial  Literature  of  Pennsylvania,  p.  124, 
as  cited  in  Tyler's  A  History  of  American  Literature ;  Vol.   II.,  pp.  227, 
228. 

2  W.  H.  Dixon's  William  Penn,  p.  207. 

3  Tyler's  A  History  of  American  Literature,  Vol.  II.,  p.  226. 

4  See  Janney's  Life  of  William  Penn,  p.  238,  ed.  1852. 

5  "The  Christian  Children  born  here,"  he  says,  "  are  generally  well- 
favoured  and  Beautiful  to  behold;  .  .  .  being  in  the  general,  observ'd 


THE   PHILADELPHIA   WRITERS.  41 

Philadelphia  merchant,  in  his  God's  Protecting  Providence 
(1699),  described  very  graphically  his  shipwreck  on  the 
coast  of  Florida.  JAMES  LOGAN,  Perm's  representative  in 
the  colony  and  for  a  time  president  of  the  council,  wrote 
much  and  well  on  many  subjects,  although  little  has  been 
printed.  His  translation  of  Cicero's  De  Senectute  (i  744), 
however,  was  published  during  his  lifetime ;  as  was  also 
his  Gate's  Moral  Distichs  Englished  in  Couplets  (1735), 
in  which  the  following  couplet  is  perhaps  the  neatest :  — 

Slip  not  the  Season  when  it  suits  thy  Mind  ; 
Time  wears  his  Lock  before,  is  bald  behind. x 

WILLIAM  SMITH'S  A  General  Idea  of  the  College  of  Mir  ant  a 
(1753)  is  noteworthy  because  of  its  Addisonian  style,  its 
anticipation  of  some  modern  ideals  in  education,  and  the 
form  of  a  romance  in  which  the  whole  is  cast.2  In  addi 
tion  to  these  and  other  general  writers,  there  were  in 
Philadelphia,  during  the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth  cen 
tury,  several  men,  such  as  HENRY  BROOKE,  AQUILA  ROSE, 
SAMUEL  KEIMER,  JAMES  RALPH,  GEORGE  WEBB,  and  JO 
SEPH  SHIPPEN,  who  had  the  knack  of  throwing  off  poems 
of  more  or  less  grace  and  spirit,  and  who  testify  to  the 
existence,  thus  early,  of  literary  atmosphere  and  literary 
ambitions  in  the  Quaker  City.  A  poet  of  greater  ability 
and  of  much  greater  promise  was  THOMAS  GODFREY 
(1736-1763).  Most  of  his  Juvenile  Poems  are  tame 
echoes  of  the  conventional  pastoral,  elegy,  and  ode  as 
these  were  then  writteri  in  England ;  but  a  few  of  them, 
especially  *The  Court  of  Fancy,  were  evidently  inspired 

to  be  better  Natur'd,  Milder,  and  more  tender  Hearted  than  those  born 
in  England."  —  An  Account,  etc.,  p.  42,  in  N.  Y.  Hist.  Soc.'s  facsimile. 

1  Cato's  Moral  Distichs,  p.  14,  ed.  1735. 

2  More's  Utopia  seems  to  have  been  its  model. 


42     LITERATURE   IN    THE   OTHER  COLONIES. 

by  the  earlier  and  fresher  English  poets,  Chaucer  in 
particular,  and  have  a  good  deal  of  melody,  fancy,  and 
vividness.  His  best  work,  however,  is  *The  Prince  of 
Parthia,  a  tragedy  showing  the  influence  of  both  the 
Elizabethan  and  the  Restoration  Drama,  and,  in  spite  of 
many  faults,  containing  much  real  poetic  power.1  God 
frey's  native  endowment  in  poetry  seems  to  have  been 
far  greater  than  that  of  any  American  writer  before  him, 
and  it  is  probable  that  if  he  had  lived  to  maturity  he 
would  have  become  a  very  considerable  poet.  His 
friend  and  editor,  NATHANIEL  EVANS,  also  wrote  poems  of 
some  promise,  having  a  certain  freedom  and  largeness  of 
utterance,  but  his  life  was  cut  short  in  1767. 

The  early  writings  of  BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN  fall  within 
the  colonial  period,  but  the  consideration  of  them  will, 
for  convenience,  be  deferred  to  a  later  page. 

1  It  was  acted  in  Philadelphia,  in  1767. 


II.    THE    REVOLUTIONARY 
PERIOD. 

(1765-1789.) 


HISTORICAL  EVENTS. 


Stamp  Act,  1765 ;  repealed,  1766. 

Duties  on  tea,  paper,  etc.,  1767. 

Boston  Massacre,  1770. 

Boston  Tea-Party,  1773. 

Boston  Port-Bill,  1774. 

First  Continental  Congress,  1774. 

Engagements    at    Lexington    and 

Concord,  April  19,  1775. 
battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  June  17, 1775. 


Declaration  oflndependence,  1776, 
Burgoyne's  surrender,  1777. 
French  alliance,  1778. 
Surrender  of  Cornwallis,  1781. 
Peace  treaty,  1783. 
Shays's  Rebellion,  1786-1787. 
Constitutional  Convention,  1787. 
Constitution  adopted,  1788. 


LITERATURE  IN  ENGLAND. 


Johnson,  1709-1784. 

Sterne,  1713-1768. 

Goldsmith,  1728-1774. 

Churchill's  satires,  1761-1764. 

Poems  of'Ossian,"  17612. 

Romantic  novels :  Castle  of 
Otranto,  1762;  Old  English 
Baron,  1772;  Vathek,  1784. 


Cowper,  1731-1800. 

Letters    of    "  Junius  "      (collected 

edition),  1772. 
Hume,  1711-1776. 
Burke,  1729-1797. 
Gibbon,  1737-1794. 
Crabbe's  early  poems,  1775-1785. 
Blake's  early  poems,  1783-1789. 


In  speaking  of  the  literature  of  the  Colonial  Period  it 
was  necessary  to  observe  geographical  lines,  because  the 
several  groups  of  colonies  were  so  isolated  and  had  so 
little  in  common.  The  literature  of  the  Revolutionary 
Period  has  more  unity,  for  the  colonies  were  now  driven 
together  by  a  common  danger  and  animated  by  a  common 
spirit.  The  attempt  of  Great  Britain  to  tax  Americans  by 
act  of  Parliament  welded  thirteen  scattered  and  diverse 
commonwealths  into  one  nation  and  made  possible  the 
beginnings  of  a  national  literature. 

43 


44  THE   REVOLUTIONARY   PERIOD. 

The  same  forces  which  gave  a  certain  unity  to  the 
Revolutionary  literature  also  gave  to  much  of  it  a  political 
cast,  the  struggle  for  freedom  leaving  little  time  or  energy 
for  purely  literary  pursuits.  And  indeed  the  conditions 
otherwise  were  not  yet  ripe  for  much  successful  cultivation 
of  belles  lettres  or  any  of  the  fine  arts.  The  colonies  or 
states  were  still  comparatively  isolated  and  diverse.  The 
Southern  planter  and  the  Northern  farmer  represented 
distinct  types  ;  the  descendants  of  fighting  Scotch  High 
landers  in  North  Carolina  were  of  quite  another  spirit 
from  the  peaceful  Quakers  of  Pennsylvania ;  the  numer 
ous  Dutch,  Swedes,  and  Germans  in  the  Middle  States 
gave  to  those  communities  a  complexion  noticeably  differ 
ent  from  that  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  communities  of  New 
England  and  Virginia ;  Catholicism  was  still  dominant  in 
Maryland,  Episcopacy  in  the  South,  Congregationalism 
in  the  North.  And  communication  between  the  states 
was  difficult.  In  an  age  without  railroads,  steamships, 
or  telegraphs,  Virginia  was  practically  much  farther  from 
Massachusetts  than  it  is  to-day  from  California ;  the  stage 
coach  running  between  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  which 
was  called  the  Flying  Machine  because  of  its  surprising 
speed,  took  two  days  to  make  the  trip ;  and  "  more  mails 
are  now  each  day  sent  out  and  received  in  New  York 
than  in  Washington's  time  went  from  the  same  city  to  all 
parts  of  the  country  in  the  course  of  half  a  year." T  The 
population  of  three  or  four  millions  was  still  largely  agri 
cultural.2  As  late  as  1786  Boston  had  only  15,000  in 
habitants,  New  York  23,000,  and  Philadelphia  32,000. 

1  McMaster's  A  History  of  the  People  of  the  United  States,  Vol.  I.,  p.  41. 

2  At  the  beginning  of  the  war,  it  has  been  estimated,  the  population 
was  2,750,000.    The  census  of  1790  showed  a  population  of  3,929,214, 
of  which  only  three  per  cent  lived  in  cities  of  8000  inhabitants  or  more. 


STATE   PAPERS.  45 

Life  in  the  states  as  a  whole  was  still  plain,  and  in  many 
parts  rude.  Education  in  the  South  languished.  Great 
public  libraries  and  art  collections  were  unknown.  Even  in 
the  older  regions  America  was  yet  too  young  to  have  fine 
architecture,  painting,  or  sculpture  ;  and  a  few  miles  back 
from  the  waters  of  the  Atlantic  the  country  was  "little 
better  than  a  great  wilderness."  l  Yet  literary  taste  and 
literary  talent  were  showing  signs  of  improvement  and 
growth.  Literary  ideals  continued,  of  course,  to  be  bor 
rowed  from  England.  But  although  there  was  to  be,  for 
many  years  yet,  a  great  deal  of  imitation,  much  of  it 
slavish  enough,  the  average  of  ability  in  letters  was  higher 
than  it  had  been  in  colonial  days,  while  a  few  writers 
showed  large  talent  and  some  originality. 

The  political  literature  of  the  period  may  mostly  be 
comprised  under  State  Papers,  Speeches,  and  Essays. 
The  State  Papers,  consisting  of  petitions,  remonstrances, 
declarations  of  rights,  etc.,  form  a  body  of  exceedingly 
able  documents,  noble  in  spirit,  solid  in  thought,  strong 
and  dignified  in  style.  "  When  your  lordships  look  at  the 
papers  transmitted  us  from  America,"  said  Chatham  in 
1775,  "when  you  consider  their  decency,  firmness,  and 
wisdom,  you  cannot  but  respect  their  cause."  2  The 
Declaration  of  Independence,  written  by  THOMAS  JEFFER 
SON,  has,  however,  somewhat  tarnished  with  time,  in 
matter  and  manner  alike  having  some  tinge  of  the  sopho- 
moric.  But  its  bold  enunciation  of  great  principles,  its 
lofty  passion  for  liberty,  and  its  elastic,  ringing  style 
stirred  the  souls  of  its  first  readers,  and  have  stirred  the 


1  McMaster's  A  History  of  the  People  of  the  United  States  ;  Vol.  I.,  p.  3. 

2  Hansard's  The  Parliamentary  History  of  England,  Vol.  XVIII., 
p.  155,  note. 


46  THE   REVOLUTIONARY   PERIOD. 

souls  of  millions  since ;  for  Jefferson  poured  into  it  a 
great  faith  in  a  great  ideal —  Democracy.1 

The  Speeches  of  the  period,  including  debates,  formal 
orations,  and  political  sermons,  maintained  a  high  general 
level,  and  in  a  few  instances  reached  a  lofty  pitch  of 
eloquence.  The  greatest  orator  of  the  North  was  JAMES 
OTIS  of  Massachusetts.  Of  his  speech  against  writs  of 
assistance,  in  1761,  the  first  bugle-note  of  the  coming 
Revolution,  John  Adams  (who  heard  it)  says  that  it  was 
characterized  by  "  such  a  profusion  of  learning,  such 
convincing  argument,  and  such  a  torrent  of  sublime  and 
pathetic  eloquence,  that  a  great  crowd  of  spectators  and 
auditors  went  away  absolutely  electrified."  2  The  great 
est  Revolutionary  orator  of  the  emotional  type  was 
PATRICK  HENRY  of  Virginia,  inferior  to  many  of  his 
contemporaries  in  learning,  judgment,3  and  practical 
efficiency,  but  endowed  with  the  gift  of  passionate  elo 
quence.  His  famous  speech  before  the  Virginia  Con 
vention,  in  1775,  rivals  the  oratory  of  Chatham  for  terse 
strength  and  fiery  logic. 

For  ten  years  before  the  war  of  arms  began,  all  America 
rang  with  a  war  of  words.  It  was  the  day  of  the  Political 
Essay  in  pamphlet  or  newspaper.  The  country  was  a 
house  divided  against  itself;  for  the  Loyalists,  a  numer 
ous,  wealthy,  and  cultured  class,  vigorously  opposed  all 
measures  which  tended  toward  a  rupture  with  the  mother 
country.  In  the  writings  put  forth  by  both  sides  the  in- 

1  Jefferson's  emphasis  upon  abstract  ideals,  borrowed  from  contem 
porary  French  thought,  was  doubtless  a  valuable  supplement  to  the 
Anglo-Saxon  instinct  of  most  of  his  countrymen  to  rest  wholly  upon 
historic  precedent. 

2  John  Adams's  Works,  Vol.  X.,  p.  183. 

3  In  1788  he  hotly  opposed  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution. 


POLITICAL   ESSAYS.  47 

tellectual  force,  political  knowledge,  and  literary  ability 
are  on  the  whole  surprisingly  great ;  but  a  rapid  and  very 
imperfect  survey  must  here  suffice. 

In  the  summer  of  1764,  amidst  the  general  alarm 
caused  by  the  report  that  Parliament  intended  to  lay  new 
and  heavier  taxes  upon  the  colonies,  JAMES  OTIS  again 
came  forward  as  the  champion  of  American  freedom  with 
a  pamphlet  entitled,  The  Rights  of  the  British  Colonies 
Asserted  and  Proved,  in  which  he  declared  that  "  no 
parts  of  his  Majesty's  dominions  can  be  taxed  without 
their  consent," *  and  urged  that  the  colonies  be  allowed 
to  send  representatives  to  Parliament.  In  the  next  year 
appeared  a  reply,  purporting  to  be  A  Letter  from  a  Gentle 
man  at  Halifax  to  His  Friend  in  Rhode  Island,  and  argu 
ing  that  the  colonies  were  no  worse  off  than  the  majority  of 
the  inhabitants  of  Great  Britain  itself,  who  (under  the  system 
then  prevailing)  had  no  voice  in  electing  members  to  Parlia 
ment.  It  was  soon  discovered  that  the  author  was  really 
a  Newport  lawyer,  MARTIN  HOWARD  ;  whereupon  a  mob 
gutted  his  house,  smashed  his  furniture,  and  forced  the 
hated  Tory  himself  to  flee  for  refuge  to  a  British  man-of- 
war.  The  fierce  intolerance  of  the  Puritan  was  not  yet  dead 
even  in  the  colony  of  Roger  Williams.  Otis's  own  career 
was  cut  short  four  years  later  by  a  brutal  assault  which 
finally  left  him  a  mental  wreck.2  The  political  services  of 
another  Massachusetts  patriot,  SAMUEL  ADAMS,  were  of 
much  longer  continuance  ;  "  for  nearly  a  third  of  a  cen 
tury,"  says  Professor  Tyler,  he  "  kept  flooding  the  com 
munity  with  his  ideas,  chiefly  in  the  form  of  essays  in  the 

1  Page  99,  ed.  1765. 

2  On  the  day  of  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill  he  escaped  from  his  attend 
ants  and  took  part  in  the  fight.     He  was  killed  by  lightning  in  1783. 


48  THE   REVOLUTIONARY   PERIOD. 

newspapers."  1  His  industry  was  indefatigable.  A  friend 
who  often  had  to  pass  his  house  after  midnight  has  said 
that  the  study  lamp  was  usually  burning,  and  "  he  knew 
that  Sam  Adams  was  hard  at  work  writing  against  the 
Tories."2  His  style  was  practical  and  plain,  but  very 
effective  ;  "every  dip  of  his  pen,"  said  Governor  Bernard, 
one  of  his  victims,  "  stung  like  a  horned  snake." 3 

The  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act  was  followed  by  a  lull  in 
pamphleteering.  But  the  imposition  of  new  duties  upon 
glass,  paints,  tea,  and  other  prominent  imports,  soon 
stirred  up  the  strife  anew.  Again  the  printing  presses 
groaned,  again  the  paper  legions  flew  to  wordy  war. 
The  most  celebrated  of  the  essays  called  forth  by  the  new 
imposts  were  the  Letters  of  a  Farmer  in  Pennsylvania  to 
the  Inhabitants  of  the  British  Colonies,  by  JOHN  DICKIN 
SON,  which  appeared  first  in  a  Philadelphia  newspaper  in 
1767-1768,  and  were  read  throughout  America  and 
Europe.  They  deserved  their  fame,  for  nothing  of  the 
kind  could  be  more  admirable.  They  were  written  in 
neat,  clear-cut  style,  showed  easy  mastery  of  the  funda 
mental  principles  of  government,  and  while  firm  and 
courageous  were  moderate  and  fair-minded.  But  the  ten 
sion  increased  from  year  to  year;  -and  in  1774-1775  the 
stream  of  essays  and  pamphlets  became  a  flood.  "  The 
Westchester  Farmer,"  in  a  series  of  pamphlets,  laid  about 
him  right  and  left,  as  with  a  flail.  He  showed  the  injury 
to  the  farmers  which  must  result  from  the  recent  agree 
ments  to  stop  trading  with  England ;  denounced  Con 
gress  as  an  illegal  and  tyrannical  body  ;  and  cried,  "  If  I 
must  be  devoured,  let  me  be  devoured  by  the  jaws  of  a 

1  The  Literary  History  of  the  American  Revolution,  Vol.  II.,  p.  9. 

2  Wells's  Life  of  Samuel  Adams,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  202,  203. 

3  John  Adams's  Works,  Vol.  II.,  p.  425. 


POLITICAL   ESSAYS.  49 

lion,  and  not  gnawed  to  death  by  rats  and  vermin."1 
These  pamphlets  were  the  most  powerful  that  the  Loyal 
ist  side  produced,  sinewy  in  style,  electrically  charged 
with  passion,  wit,  sarcasm,  and  logic.  They  heartened 
the  Tories.  They  put  the  Radicals  on  their  mettle. 
The  two  ablest  replies,  A  Full  Vindication  of  the  Meas 
ures  of  the  Congress,  and  The  Farmer  Refuted,  were  both 
from  the  pen  of  ALEXANDER  HAMILTON,  the  most  preco 
cious  statesman  of  America,  if  not  of  the  world.  They 
were  written  when  he  was  only  eighteen  years  old,  an 
undergraduate  at  King's  College,  yet  they  showed  such 
learning,  political  wisdom,  and  general  maturity  that  they 
were  commonly  attributed  at  first  to  much  older  and 
well-known  public  men.  Meanwhile  an  answer  of  quite 
another  sort  was  preparing.  The  "  Farmer  "  was  (prob 
ably  rightly)  suspected  to  be  SAMUEL  SEABURY,  an  Epis 
copalian  clergyman  of  Westchester,  N.  Y.,  and  a  mob 
finally  pillaged  his  house,  insulted  his  daughters,  and 
dragged  him  off  to  prison.  Hardly  less  powerful  and 
even  more  adroit  than  Seabury's  pamphlets  were  the 
letters  of  "  Massachusettensis,"  by  DANIEL  LEONARD,  a 
prominent  lawyer  and  politician,  which  at  about  the  same 
time  began  to  appear  in  a  Boston  newspaper.  JOHN 
ADAMS,  who  answered  them,  had  already  won  some  fame 
as  a  political  essayist  by  his  arguments  in  1765  against 
the  Stamp  Act ;  and  his  reply  to  "  Massachusettensis  " 
had  wide  circulation  in  America  and  was  several  times 
republished  in  Europe.  But  a  sterner  reply  was  at  the 
door.  Lexington,  Concord,  and  Bunker  Hill  converted 
many  an  able  pamphlet  into  waste  paper,  and  (in  the 

1  Free  Thoughts  on  the  Proceedings  of  the  Continental  Congress,  p.  36, 
ed.  1775. 


50  THE    REVOLUTIONARY    PERIOD. 

words  of  Adams  himself)  "  changed  the  instruments  of 
warfare  from  the  pen  to  the  sword."  l 

Yet  the  most  famous  of  all  the  political  essayists  of  the 
period  had  not  yet  entered  the  lists.  THOMAS  PAINE, 
coming  to  America  in  1774  a  needy  adventurer,  soon 
gained  some  acquaintance  with  the  Revolutionary  leaders, 
and  rapidly  absorbed  the  spirit  of  the  hour.  Early  in 
1776  appeared  his  pamphlet  Common  Sense,  which  ran 
over  the  land  like  wildfire,  120,000  copies  being  sold 
within  three  months.  It  was  a  bold  plea  for  inde 
pendence,  and  the  effect  was  tremendous.  It  came  in 
the  nick  of  time.  The  bloody  events  of  the  preceding 
year  had  prepared  the  way;  and  this  clever  appeal, 
presenting  in  homely  fashion,  with  remarkable  lucidity 
and  raciness  of  phrase,  the  great  advantages  which  would 
result  from  America's  taking  her  station  among  the 
independent  nations  of  the  earth,  was  just  what  was 
wanted  to  determine  wavering  minds.  Paine  also  wrote 
a  series  of  inspiriting  pamphlets  called  The  Crisis,  which 
came  out  at  intervals  during  the  war. 

The  political  essays  of  the  period  under  review  found 
a  worthy  close  in  The  Federalist,  a  series  of  papers  which 
appeared  in  1787-1788,  during  the  great  struggle  over 
the  adoption  of  the  Constitution.2  The  authors  were 
JOHN  JAY,  JAMES  MADISON,  and  ALEXANDER  HAMILTON, 
the  last-named  writing  the  largest  part.3  The  immediate 

1  Works,  Vol.  II.,  p.  405. 

2  The  series  was  published,  in  whole  or  in  part,  by  several  New  York 
papers;  and  was  reprinted  as  a  book  in  1788. 

3  There  has  been  much  dispute  as  to  the  authorship  of  the  various 
numbers.     It  is  agreed  that  Jay  wrote  Nos.  2-5,  64 ;   Madison  Nos.  10, 
14,  37-48  ;  and  Hamilton  the  rest,  with  the  exception  of  Nos.  18-20,  49- 
58,  62,  63.     These  last  are  in  dispute,  some  scholars  maintaining  that 
Hamilton  cooperated  with  Madison  in  Nos.  18-20  and  wrote  Nos.  49-58, 


HISTORIES    AND    NARRATIVES.  .51 

purpose  was  to  remove  objections  to  the  proposed  consti 
tution  ;  but  the  discussion  took  a  broad  range,  and  the 
fundamental  principles  of  popular  government  were  pre 
sented  with  such  clearness,  precision,  and  suppleness  of 
style,  and  such  keenness  and  sagacity  of  thought,  that 
The  Federalist  has  long  been  a  political  classic. 

No  hard-and-fast  line  divides  the  political  writings  of 
the  period  from  those  of  a  more  purely  literary  character. 
Between  the  two  extremes  stand  several  classes  of  works 
partaking  of  the  nature  of  both,  while  even  the  poetry 
and  other  forms  of  pure  literature  often  have  for  sub 
jects  the  political  events  of  the  times. 

Governor  THOMAS  HUTCHINSON,  "  the  ablest  historical 
writer  produced  in  America  prior  to  the  nineteenth 
century,"1  in  the  third  volume  of  The  History  of  the 
Province  of  Massachusetts  Bay  brings  the  record  down  to 
1774  ;  and  even  while  treating  of  the  turbulent  times  in 
which  his  house  was  sacked  by  a  mob,2  and  he  himself 
finally  driven  from  the  governorship,  he  maintains,  for 
the  most  part,  the  calmness,  accuracy,  and  fairness  which 
mark  the  genuine  historian.  Histories  of  the  Revo 
lution  were  written  by  WILLIAM  GORDON,  DAVID  RAM 
SAY,  and  Mrs.  MERCY  WARREN;  all  are  respectable, 
and  as  contemporary  records  have  considerable  histori- 


62,  63,  and  others  that  Madison  was  the  sole  author  of  all  the  numbers 
in  dispute.  See  P.  L.  Ford's  edition  of  The  Federalist,  and  The  Ameri 
can  Historical  Review,  April  and  July,  1897. 

1  Tyler's  The  Literary  History  of  the  American  Revolution,  Vol.  II., 

P.  394- 

2  The  manuscript  of  his  second  volume  was  thrown  into  the  street ; 
most  of  the  scattered  leaves  were,  however,  recovered,  stained  with  mud 
and  torn  by  the  trampling  feet  of  men  and  horses.     Some  of  the  sheets 
are  now  preserved,  says  Professor  Tyler,  in  the  Massachusetts  State 
Library. 


52  THE   REVOLUTIONARY   PERIOD. 

cal  value,  but  their  literary  merit  is  not  great.  More 
interesting  are  the  Narratives  of  Captivity  by  ETHAN 
ALLEN,  THOMAS  ANDROS,  *  HENRY  LAURENS,  and  others. 
Colonel  Allen,  famous  for  taking  Ticonderoga  "  in  the 
name  of  Jehovah  and  the  Continental  Congress,"  was 
equally  robust  as  a  writer,  describing  with  much  crude 
vigor  his  experiences  as  a  prisoner  in  the  hands  of  the 
British  from  1775  to  1778.  Andrps's  picture  of  life-in- 
death  on  the  "  Old  Jersey,"  a  British  prison-ship  and  veri 
table  pest-hole,  in  which  he  says  that  not  less  than  eleven 
thousand  Americans  perished,  is  sickeningly  graphic; 
and  the  story  of  his  final  escape  is  thrilling.  Laurens, 
while  on  his  way  to  Holland  as  United  States  commis 
sioner,  was  captured  by  a  British  man-of-war,  in  1780, 
and  imprisoned  in  the  Tower  of  London  for  more  than  a 
year ;  his  account  of  his  life  there,  amid  hardships  and 
temptations,  shows  the  dignified  courage  and  incorrupti 
ble  patriotism  of  a  lofty  spirit.  The  published  Letters 
of  the  Revolutionary  period  are  generally  well  written. 
WASHINGTON  always  writes  with  a  certain  formality,  indeed, 
characteristic  of  the  times  and  the  man,  but  also  with  a 
calm  strength  and  noble  largeness.  JEFFERSON'S  letters 
are  more  lively  and  flexible.  JOHN  ADAMS  and  his  wife 
ABIGAIL  had  a  gift  for  letter-writing,  their  letters  to  one 
another,  in  particular,  being  full  of  the  little  details  and 
personal  touches  which  give  to  this  form  of  literature  its 
peculiar  charm.  From  letters  to  Journals  and  Auto 
biographies  is  an  easy  step.  JEFFERSON'S  Autobiography 
has  less  of  personal  interest  than  might  be  desired,  deal 
ing  largely  with  his  public  career ;  but  it  is  written  in  his 
usual  easy,  elastic  style,  and  contains  many  interesting 
passages.  The  Journal  of  JOHN  WOOLMAN,  a  Quaker,  is 


LITERARY   ESSAYS.  53 

pervaded  by  a  spiritual  purity,  delicacy,  and  calm  that 
made  Charles  Lamb  exclaim,  "  Get  the  writings  of  John 
Woolman  by  heart,  and  love  the  early  Quakers,"1  while 
Whittier  beautifully  says  of  it  that  one  is  "  sensible,  as  he 
reads,  of  a  sweetness  as  of  violets."  2 

In  the  sheltered  retreats  of  the  magazine  the  Literary 
Essay  put  forth  its  feeble  foliage  in  peace  even  while 
War  was  devastating  the  world  without.  Thus  The  Penn 
sylvania  Magazine  for  September,  1775,  contained,  along 
with  a  picture  of  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  an  essay  en- 
\\fa&)  Reflections  upon  the  Married  State ;  and  two  months 
later,  when  Washington  was  cooping  up  the  British  in 
Boston  and  husbanding  his  powder,  an  essay  on  Frugal 
ity.  The  Spectator  papers  were  the  models  for  the  Amer 
ican  Steeles  and  Addisons,  who,  while  catching  the  moral 
propriety  and  literary  restraint  of  the  originals,  too  often 
missed  their  grace,  humor,  and  delicate  satire.  These 
essays,  however,  like  their  prototypes,  frequently  took  the 
form  of  character-sketches,  dreams,  fables,  or  tales,  and 
were  then  sometimes  written  with  a  good  deal  of  vivacity, 
fancy,  and  wit.3  In  a  time  of  such  political  ferment,  it 
was  not  to  be  expected  that  the  essay  or  fable  would 
altogether  avoid  political  subjects.  In  The  Providence 
Gazette  for  November  10,  1764,  when  the  menace  of  the 
Stamp  Act  was  already  troubling  the  country,  there  ap 
peared  a  * Dream  of  the  Branding  of  Asses  and  Horses? 


1  A  Quaker's  Meeting,  in  Essays  of  Ella. 

2  Introduction  to  Woolman's  Journal,  p.  34. 

3  See  the  Old  Bachelor  papers  (some  of  which  are  by  Francis  Hop- 
kinson)  in  The  Pennsylvania  Magazine  for  1775  ;  and  *  Number  Five  of 
The  Retailer  papers  in  The  Columbian  Magazine  for  1788. 

4  The  article  has  no  title  in  the  original,  being  merely  a  letter  to  the 
publisher. 


54  THE   REVOLUTIONARY   PERIOD. 

which  in  a  humorous  way  hit  the  political  nail  squarely 
on  the  head,  showing  that  "  none  but  asses  would  stand 
still  to  be  branded,"  and  that  American  horses  in  partic 
ular,  being  "  all  of  the  English  breed,"  would  surely  kick 
up  their  heels  with  great  vigor.  Ten  years  later,  just 
about  the  time  of  the  assembling  of  the  first  Continental 
Congress  in  Philadelphia,  there  was  published  in  that 
city  A  Pretty  Story,  by  FRANCIS  HOPKINSON,  a  very  enter 
taining  allegory  of  the  Old  Farm  and  the  New  Farm,  of 
a  Nobleman  and  his  Children,  of  the  Nobleman's  Steward 
(the  king's  ministers)  and  the  Nobleman's  Wife  (Parlia 
ment),  and  how  the  wicked  Steward  got  a  tax  laid  upon 
Water  Gruel  (tea),  and  in  many  other  ways  vexed  the 
Nobleman's  Children  upon  the  New  Farm.1  Some  time 
between  the  adjournment  of  Congress  and  the  outbreak 
of  war,  there  came  out  *A  Cure  for  the  Spleen,  an  essay 
in  the  form  of  a  dramatic  conversation,  setting  forth  the 
Tory  view  of  the  situation  with  so  much  liveliness,  humor, 
and  keenness  that  it  may  still  be  read  with  a  good  deal  of 
pleasure.  Far  removed  (until  near  their  close)  from  all 
this  political  hurly-burly  are  the  * Letters  from  an  Amer 
ican  Farmer  (1782),  by  J.  HECTOR  ST.  JOHN  CREVE- 
CCEUR,  a  Frenchman  by  birth,  which  are  really  pictorial 
essays  upon  life  in  America.  They  describe  with  deli 
cate  sentiment  and  poetic  idealism  the  happy  life  of  the 
"American  Farmer  ";  sketch  vividly  the  inhabitants  of 
Nantucket,  their  simple  customs  and  dangerous  occupa 
tions  ;  draw  a  powerful  picture  of  the  harsher  side  of 
slavery  as  seen  in  South  Carolina ;  give  some  most  inter 
esting  facts  about  birds  and  snakes  in  the  New  World  ; 

1  It  has  been  thought  that  Ilopkinson  took  for  his  model  Arbuthnot's 
History  of  John  Dull. 


BENJAMIN   FRANKLIN.  55 

and  conclude  with  the  distress  brought  upon  the  peace- 
loving  Pennsylvania  "  Farmer  "  by  the  American  Revolu 
tion.  Refinement  and  literary  grace  pervade  the  book, 
which  has  real  charm,  although  its  exaggerated  sensi 
bility,  and  distress  at  suffering  even  in  a  great  cause, 
give  it  a  certain  effeminacy  like  that  of  the  contemporary 
literature  of  sentiment  in  Germany,  France,  and  England. 
BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN  began  to  write  long  before  the 
Revolution,  but  an  account  of  his  work  has  been 
deferred  until  now  that  it  might  be  presented  as  a  whole. 
His  wonderful  career,  from  a  poor  printer's  boy  to  a 
world-famous  man  of  science  and  an  ambassador  at  the 
courts  of  kings,  is  too  familiar  to  need  emphasis  here.1 
Franklin's  versatility  was  marvellous.  He  was  an  epitome 
of  his  century ;  its  shrewd  common-sense,  its  scientific 
spirit,  its  literary  talent  within  a  certain  range,  its  limited 
spirituality,  its  moral  coarseness,  are  all  in  high  degree 
exemplified  in  him.  His  services  as  a  statesman  would 
alone  have  made  him  famous,  and  so  would  his  contri 
butions  to  science.  His  literary  fame,  although  great,  is 
secondary,  resting  chiefly  upon  a  few  writings  which  are 


1  Franklin  was  born  in  Boston  in  1706;  removed  to  Philadelphia  in 
1723,  where  he  soon  began  to  prosper  as  printer  and  publisher  and  rapidly 
rose  to  great  influence  in  the  colony,  founding  the  American  Philo 
sophical  Society  and  the  University  of  Pennsylvania ;  in  1752,  by  his 
famous  kite  experiment,  demonstrated  that  lightning  is  electricity;  1753- 
1774,  was  deputy  postmaster-general  for  British  America ;  1757-1762, 
1764-1775,  acted  as  agent  for  Pennsylvania  (and  a  part  of  the  time 
for  Georgia,  New  Jersey,  and  Massachusetts  also)  at  the  British  court ; 
was  elected  to  Congress  in  1775,  and  helped  to  draft  the  Declara 
tion  of  Independence;  1776-1785,  resided  in  France  as  ambassador, 
playing  a  prominent  part  in  winning  French  aid  and  in  making  a 
favorable  peace  treaty  with  England;  1785-1788,  was  president  of  Penn 
sylvania  ;  sat  in  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  1787 ;  died  in  Phila 
delphia  in  1790. 


56  THE   REVOLUTIONARY    PERIOD. 

the  embodiment  of  practical  wisdom ;  of  the  higher  im 
agination,  as  of  the  higher  spirituality,  Franklin  knew 
nothing.  His  writings  fill  many  volumes,  but  the  bulk 
consists  of  scientific  papers,  political  papers,  and  letters. 
The  style  of  the  scientific  articles  is  admirable  for  its 
purpose  —  lucid,  precise,  and  compact.  In  his  political 
writings  Franklin  struck  many  a  good  blow  for  his  country, 
effectively  combining  plain  truth  and  powerful  satire  with 
urbanity,  humor,  and  wit.  His  Examination  before  the 
House  of  Commons  in  1 766,  which  he  printed  as  a  pam 
phlet,  did  much  to  secure  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act. 
His  Rules  for  Reducing  a  Great  Empire  to  a  Small  One 
and  An  Edict  by  the  King  of  Prussia,  which  were  pub 
lished  in  England  in  1773,  made  a  great  hit  and  were 
widely  read.  Franklin  was  the  best  letter-writer  of  his 
day  in  America.  In  comparison  with  Washington's  uni 
form  epistolary  style,  Franklin's  is  striking  for  its  flexi 
bility —  dignified  in  weighty  matters,  in  familiar  letters 
playful  as  a  kitten,  frequently  witty  and  fanciful,  pleasing 
always  by  clearness,  naturalness,  and  ease.  He  also  tried 
his  hand  at  the  literary  essay  and  sketch.  In  early  years 
he  published,  in  Philadelphia  periodicals,  the  Busy-Body 
papers  and  other  Addisonian  essays,  which  are  compara 
tively  commonplace.  Many  years  after,  while  living  in 
France,  he  threw  off,  for  the  amusement  of  some  of  his 
new  friends,  several  "  bagatelles,"  such  as  The  Ephemera 
and  The  Whistle,  delightful  for  their  French  lightness  of 
touch  and  their  good-natured  but  sage  philosophy  of  life. 
Franklin's  literary  fame  rests  chiefly,  however,  upon  \iv$Poor 
Richard's  Almanac  (1733-1758)  and  his  Autobiography^ 
He  was  not  the  first  to  make  almanacs  the  vehicle  of  enter- 

1  The  first  five  chapters  were  written  in  1771 ;  the  rest,  in  1784-1789. 


BENJAMIN   FRANKLIN.  57 

tainment  and  moral  instruction ;  but  he  so  far  outdid  his 
rivals  that  they  are  nearly  forgotten,  while  he  still  lives  in 
the  sayings  of  Poor  Richard.  He  did  not  invent  all  his 
proverbs  j  but  whether  adapting  or  creating  he  had  an 
unsurpassed  gift  for  putting  bits  of  practical  wisdom  in  a 
pithy  and  striking  way,  being  in  this  respect  a  prose-cousin 
to  his  great  contemporary,  Pope.1  The  Autobiography 
is  one  of  the  most  interesting  books  ever  written,  holding 
the  attention  by  the  triple  cord  of  its  limpid,  racy  style, 
magnificent  common-sense,  and  self-revelation  of  a  great 
man.  Franklin  was  the  first  great  American  to  dwell  in 
Europe,  and  he  did  an  immense  deal  to  remove  the  Old 
World  illusion  that  the  "  provincials  "  were  necessarily  an 
inferior  race.  For  in  the  plain  old  philosopher,  whom  it 
was  quite  impossible  to  muddle,  outwit,  browbeat,  patro 
nize,  or  ignore,  the  European  recognized  an  equal,  and  yet 
was  conscious  of  an  indefinable  something  that  was  new  : 
the  stock  was  pure  English,  but  the  sap,  sucked  up  from 
a  strange  soil,  was  pure  Yankee  ;  yet  the  tree  was  not  two 
trees  but  one,  and  it  bore  goodly  fruit. 

The  Poetry  of  the  Revolutionary  period  was  abundant 
and  varied.  The  stirring  political  and  martial  events  of 
the  times  naturally  called  forth  many  *  POPULAR  SONGS 
AND  BALLADS,  most  of  which  were  crude  in  form  and  ex 
travagant  in  tone,  full  of  partisan  abuse  and  brag.  But 
the  very  number  and  heat  of  these  productions,  which 
were  largely  anonymous,  show  how  deeply  the  country 
was  stirred ;  and  the  Muse  of  History  may  therefore 
shelter  bantlings  which  the  Lyric  Muse  must  disown. 

1  For  Franklin's  indebtedness  to  Poor  Robin,  an  English  comic  alma 
nac,  and  to  Ray's  A  Collection  of  English  Proverbs,  see  McMaster's  life 
of  Franklin  (American  Men  of  Letters  series),  pp.  101,  112. 


58  THE   REVOLUTIONARY   PERIOD. 

But  verses  on  other  themes  were  plenty  enough.  The 
Pennsylvania  Magazine,  for  instance,  in  the  very  year  of 
Lexington  and  Bunker  Hill,  abounded  in  poems  about 
"  Delia "  and  "  Strephon,"  odes  on  Solitude,  wails  of 
"  Hopeless  Love,"  sprightly  fables,  and  solemn  "  Thoughts 
on  the  Universe." 

Let  a  few  of  the  minor  poets  stand  for  their  whole 
choir.  PHILLIS  WHEATLEY/  a  negro  slave  brought  from 
Africa  to  Boston  in  1761  at  the  age  of  seven  or  eight, 
under  the  care  of  an  indulgent  mistress  developed  re 
markable  aptitude  for  letters,  and  in  a  few  years  wrote 
very  respectable  verse  in  the  conventional  manner  of  the 
day.  In  1773  a  volume  of  her  poems  was  published  in 
London ;  the  following  lines,  upon  the  effect  of  Homer's 
poetry,  are  a  favorable  specimen  :  — 

Great  Sire  of  verse,  before  my  mortal  eyes, 
The  lightnings  blaze  across  the  vaulted  skies, 
And,  as  the  thunder  shakes  the  heav'nly  plains, 
A  deep-felt  horror  thrills  through  all  my  veins.2 

PETER  MARKOE'S  Miscellaneous  Poems  (1787)   are  com 
monplace  ;  odes  to  Faith,  Hope,  Penn,  Shakspere,  etc., 
show  the  influence  of  Gray  and  Collins,  two  fables  were 
perhaps  inspired  by  Gay,   while    several   poems   in  the 
pentameter  couplet  have  Pope  for  godfather.     The  fol 
lowing  quatrain,  On  a  Beautiful  Lady  with  a  Loud  Voice, 
is  probably  the  best  thing  in  the  book  :  — 
That  Chloe  should  surprise  our  hearts, 
And  quickly  lose  them  —  where's  the  wonder  ? 
Jove's  lightning  from  her  eyes  she  darts, 
And  from  her  tongue  she  rolls  his  thunder.3 

1  She  finally  married  a  Mr.  Peters,  and  is  sometimes  referred  to  as 
Phillis  Wheatley  Peters. 

2  Poems,  p.  10,  ed.  1773.  3  Miscellaneous  Poems,  p.  22,  ed.  1787. 


POETRY.  59 

The  poetry  of  JOSEPH  B.  LADD  (1786)  shows  some  prom 
ise,  being  occasionally  rather  pretty  and  light,  and  making 
several  attempts  to  use  distinctively  American  material. 
His  poems,  like  many  others  of  the  period,  by  their  en 
thusiasm  for  "  Ossian  "  also  show  that  the  tendency  in 
English  poetry  toward  Romanticism  was  beginning  to 
affect  American  poetry  too.  In  the  works  of  DAVID 
HUMPHREYS,  military  aide  to  Washington,  and  afterward 
minister  to  Spain,  the  influence  of  Pope  and  Goldsmith 
is,  however,  still  predominant.  But  Humphreys  wrote 
the  pentameter  couplet  with  some  grace  and  a  good  deal 
of  strength,  and  his  poetry  has  a  certain  originality.  The 
subjects  of  all  his  principal  poems  are  American;1  he 
praises  the  vastness  of  nature  in  the  New  World  ;  sketches 
Indian  life,  though  briefly  and  as  a  dark  background  ; 
draws  pretty  pictures  of  American  crops  growing,  and  of 
winter  pleasures ;  and  describes  with  much  spirit  the 
American  whale  fishery. 

The  most  notable  poets  of  the  period,  however,  were 
John  Trumbull,  Timothy  Dwight,  Joel  Barlow,  and  Philip 
Freneau.  The  first  three,  residents  of  Connecticut  and 
graduates  of  Yale  College,  remind  us  that  literary  pre 
eminence  had  passed,  for  a  time,  from  Boston  and  Phila 
delphia  to  New  Haven  and  Hartford  ;2  and  with  Freneau 

1  Such  as  The  Armies  of  the  United  States  (1780),  The  Happiness  of 
America  (1786),  The  Industry  of  the  United  States  (1794),  etc. 

2  Hartford  was  for  a  while  the  residence  of  Trumbull,  Barlow,  Hum 
phreys,  Lemuel  Hopkins,  and  other  so-called  "  Hartford  Wits."    The 
four  named  wrote   The  Anarchiad,  a  keen  and  amusing  satire  upon 
Shays's  Rebellion,  depreciated  paper  money  in  Rhode  Island,  and  other 
dangerous  symptoms  of  the  times  in  the  chaotic  period  between  the  end 
of  the  Revolution  and  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution.     The  poem 
appeared  first  in  The  New  Haven  Gazette,  in  1786-1787,  was  reprinted  in 
other  newspapers,  and  contributed  its  part  to  the  growing  conviction 
that  a  stronger  central  government  was  necessary. 


60  THE    REVOLUTIONARY   PERIOD. 

they  mark  the  growth  of  a  more  purely  literary  cult  than 
had  before  appeared  in  America. 

JOHN  TRUMBULL  (1750-1831),  lawyer  and  judge,  was 
almost  incredibly  precocious,  learning  to  read  at  two  and 
a  half  years,  composing  verses  at  four,  and  at  seven  pass 
ing  the  examination  for  admission  to  Yale  College,  which 
he  entered  at  thirteen.  His  first  considerable  poem, 
* The  Progress  of  Dulness  (1772  and  1773),  in  vivacious 
octosyllabic  couplets,  satirizes  college  education,  fops, 
and  coquettes  by  sketching  with  much  vigor  and  wit  the 
careers  of  Tom  Brainless,  Dick  Hairbrain,  and  Miss  Har 
riet  Simper.1  But  the  war  was  soon  to  draw  the  young 
poet's  talents  into  its  vortex.  In  1774  the  Boston  Port- 
Bill  called  forth  from  him  An  Elegy  on  the  Times ;  and 
in  the  next  year  he  flung  himself  headlong  into  the 
welter  with  the  first  half  of  his  most  powerful  poem, 
*Hf'Fingal)  a  mock-epic  satire  on  the  Tories.  In 
this  first  part,  Squire  M'Fingal,  a  Tory,  stoutly  har 
angues  a  town-meeting,  which  grows  more  and  more 
turbulent.  In  the  second  half  (appearing  in  1782) 
M'Fingal  is  tarred  and  feathered  and  paraded  about  the 
town  in  a  cart ;  that  night,  safe  in  his  cellar,  he  wofully 
describes  to  his  assembled  Tory  friends  a  vision  in  which 
there  has  been  revealed  to  him  the  complete  triumph  of 
the  Revolution.  M'Fingal  was  immensely  popular  in 
its  day,  and  has  been  many  times  reprinted  since.  It 
has  perhaps  been  overpraised.  A  good  deal  of  the 
interest  in  a  contemporary  political  satire  is  necessarily 

1  Trumbull's  odes,  elegies,  and  fables  of  the  same  period,  in  which 
the  influence  of  Gray,  Collins,  Goldsmith,  and  Gay  is  manifest,  are 
comparatively  commonplace  and  feeble.  His  series  of  essays,  The 
Meddler  and  The  Correspondent,  published  in  Boston  and  New  Haven 
newspapers  in  1769-1770,  are  sprightly. 


TRUMBULL   AND   DWIGHT.  61 

transient;  furthermore,  the  poem  contains  many  me 
diocre  passages,  and  the  whole  is  prolix.  Yet  it  has 
many  passages  of  keen  wit,  broad  humor,  or  crushing 
satire,  and  there  is  an  enjoyable  rush  and  vigor  through 
out.  It  has  also  a  refreshing  smack  of  originality,  in  spite 
of  its  manifest  indebtedness,  in  verse,  style,  and  general 
method,  to  Butler's  Hudibras  and  the  satires  of  Churchill. 
TIMOTHY  DWIGHT  (1752-1817),  president  of  Yale 
College  from  1795  till  his  death,  published  in  1785 
*T/ie  Conquest  of  Canaan,  an  epic  in  eleven  books. 
The  Bible  narrative  of  Joshua's  wars  is  greatly  amplified 
by  imaginary  details,  and  a  love  story  of  Irad  and  Selima 
is  added.  Several  digressions  comparing  sundry  charac 
ters  in  the  poem  to  heroes  of  the  American  Revolution, 
and  the  considerable  space  given  to  America  in  Book 
Tenth  (where  an  angel  reveals  the  future  to  Joshua),  are 
examples  of  the  way  in  which  contemporary  events  and 
the  growing  sense  of  national  greatness  touched  all  sorts 
of  literature  during  the  Revolutionary  period.  The  Con 
quest  of  Canaan  is  an  honest,  respectable  piece  of  work, 
but  of  genius  or  even  of  high  talent  it  has  not  a  glimmer. 
The  worst  defect  of  the  poem,  next  to  its  hopeless  medi 
ocrity,  is  the  incongruity  between  the  early,  rude  times 
depicted  and  the  conventional  eighteenth-century  man 
ner  throughout ;  the  Gibeonites  sing  a  hymn  to  the  sun 
in  the  style  of  the  Essay  on  Man,  and  the  damsel  who 
instructs  them  in  the  true  faith  is  made  to  talk  thus  :  — 

"  Far  other  God,"  replied  the  fair,  "  demands 
My  vocal  transports,  and  my  suppliant  hands."  * 

One  of  the  best  features  of  Dwight's  would-be  epic,  its 
occasional  pretty  pictures  of  quiet  scenes  in  nature,  is 

1  The  Conquest  of  Canaan,  II.,  121, 122,  ed.  1785, 


62  THE   REVOLUTIONARY   PERIOD. 

found  also  in  his  other  principal  poem,  Greenfield  Hill 
(1794),  which  is  frankly  in  imitation  of  the  manner  of 
Spenser,  Thomson,  Goldsmith,  and  other  English  poets. 
It  contains  some  distinctively  American  touches  in  its 
description  of  a  New  England  village  and  in  its  pride 
in  the  United  States  as  the  happiest  land ;  nearly  half 
a  century  before  Emerson,  in  The  American  Scholar, 
struck  more  successfully  the  same  note,  Timothy  Dvvight 
had  written, 

Ah  then,  thou  favour'd  land,  thyself  revere  ! 
Look  not  to  Europe,  for  examples  just 
Of  order,  manners,  customs,  doctrines,  laws, 
Of  happiness,  or  virtue.1 

JOEL  BARLOW  (1754-1812)  was  a  politician  as  well  as 
poet,  and  served  as  minister  to  France  in  1811-1812. 
His  interest  in  public  affairs  appears  also  in  his  poems. 
The  Prospect  of  Peace  (1778)  glows  with  enthusiasm  for 
America  as  the  future  leader  of  the  world.  A  Poem 
spoken  at  Commencement  at  Yale  College,  in  1781,  deals 
largely  with  American  affairs ;  and  a  prefatory  note  says 
that  passages  in  it  are  "  taken  from  a  larger  work  which 
the  author  has  by  him  unfinished."  The  work  referred 
to,  The  Vision  of  Columbus  (1787),  was  therefore  a  poem 
of  slow  growth,  and  it  was  still  further  expanded  into  the 
bulky  *  Columbiad  of  1807.  Barlow's  epic  was  thus  a  great 
and  serious  labor,  into  which  he  put  his  life-thought ;  but 
unfortunately  it  is  a  serious  labor  for  the  reader  too.  The 
first  book  is  a  rhymed  geography,  describing  in  detail  the 
whole  continent ;  the  subsequent  books  contain  the  con 
quest  of  Mexico  and  Peru,  the  settlement  of  North 

1  Greenfield  Hill,  I.  233-236,  ed.  1794. 


BARLOW   AND   FRENEAU.  63 

America,  the  French  and  Indian  War,  the  Revolution,  a 
retrospective  view  of  the  progress  of  the  world  from 
Creation,  and  a  vision  of  the  future,  in  which  Tennyson's 
"  Parliament  of  Man  "  is  anticipated.  The  style  is  heavy, 
stiff  with  Latin  derivatives,1  and  often  bombastic.  The 
pentameter  couplets  are  mechanically  correct,  but  have 
little  real  melody.  In  brief,  The  Columbiad  is  a  stage 
coach  epic,  lumbering  and  slow.  It  is  valuable  chiefly 
as  a  courageous  attempt  at  greater  things  in  American 
literature ;  and  it  failed,  not  because  its  author  had  no 
talent  (for  he  had  a  great  deal),  but  because  epics  de 
mand  genius.  Much  more  successful  is  his  lively  little 
poem  *The  Hasty-Pudding  (1793),  which  describes  very 
prettily  the  growing  Indian  corn  and  the  husking-bees, 
and  tells  with  mock-solemn  precision  just  how  the 
pudding  should  be  eaten. 

PHILIP  FRENEAU  (1752-1832),  of  Huguenot  stock,  a 
graduate  of  the  college  of  New  Jersey,  a  sea-captain  and 
editor,  like  Trumbull  was  soon  diverted  from  pure  litera 
ture  into  political  satire.  His  satires  have  less  imagina 
tion  than  Trumbull's,  and  more  abuse  and  bitterness. 
In  The  British  Prison-Ship,  containing  vigorous  though 
repulsive  description,  occur  the  lines, 

Some  miscreant  Tory,  puff'd  with  upstart  pride, 
Led  on  by  hell  to  take  the  royal  side.2 

And  elsewhere  Cornwallis  is  called  "reptile,"  "swine," 
"  Satan's  first-born  son  "  ;  his  army,  a  "  host  of  Beelze- 
bubs "  ;  England,  "  the  vengeful  dragon's  den."  In 

1  In  the  description  of  Washington  crossing  the  Delaware  (VI.  156- 
169)  occur  the  phrases,  ".muriat  flakes,"  "nitrous  form,"  "petrific  sky,'1 
and  "  waves  conglaciate." 

2  Poems,  p.  197,  ed.  1786. 


64  THE   REVOLUTIONARY   PERIOD. 

more  genial  moods  Freneau  sometimes  mingled  humor 
with  satire,  as  in  The  Political  Balance,  where  Jove,  using 
two  moons  as  spectacles,  sees  Great  Britain  as  "  a  blot 
on  the  Ball."1  The  non-political  satires,  as  The  Village 
Merchant,  The  Sabbath- Day  Chase,  and  A  Journey  from 
Philadelphia  to  New  York,  abound  in  humor  and  are 
often  very  lively.  In  the  satiric  and  didactic  poems  the 
influence  of  Pope  and  Churchill  is  apparent.  But  much 
of  Freneau's  poetry  is  of  other  kinds,  and  shows  other 
influences.  His  commonplace  poems  of  moralizing  senti 
ment  about  nature  and  human  life  are  modelled  on  Gray's 
Elegy.  The  Hermit  of  Saba  and  Pictures  of  Columbus, 
dramatic  in  form,  have  lines  in  which  one  hears  echoes 
of  the  Elizabethan  dramatists,  as  in  these  words  of  the 
dying  Columbus  :  — 

The  winds  blow  high:  one  other  world  remains; 
Once  more  without  a  guide  I  find  the  way;   .  .  . 
To  shadowy  forms,  and  ghosts,  and  sleepy  things, 
Columbus,  now  with  dauntless  heart  repair.2 

Milton's  early  poems  affected  his  graceful  and  musical 
The  Power  of  Fancy ;  and  the  playful-sad  philosophy  of 
life  in  the  poems  of  Herrick  and  the  Cavalier  poets 
reappears  in  The  Parting  Glass,  On  a  Honey  Bee,  and 
*The  Wild  Honeysuckle.  *Tke  House  of  Night,  a  work 
of  really  powerful  though  somewhat  crude  imagination, 
is  all  compact  of  the  same  gruesome  Romanticism  which 
had  been  recently  coming  into  English  poetry  and  prose 
fiction.  But  Freneau  was  no  slavish  imitator.  On  the 
contrary,  in  poems  of  fancy  and  imagination  he  was  the 
most  original  and  truly  poetical  poet  in  America  before 

1  Poems,  p.  261,  ed.  1786. 

2  Miscellaneous  Works,  pp.  29,  30,  ed.  1788. 


FRENEAU.  65 

the  nineteenth  century.  His  gift  for  phrasing  is  illus 
trated  by  the  fact  that  two  excellent  English  poets  have 
borrowed  from  him.1  In  Campbell's  O'Connor's  Child 
(1810),  the  line, 

The  hunter  and  the  deer  a  shade  ! 2 

is  taken  without  change  from  Freneau's  most  successful 
poem  on  Indian  subjects,  The  Indian  Burying  Ground : 

By  midnight  moons,  o'er  moistening  dews, 
In  vestments  for  the  chace  array'd, 
The  hunter  still  the  deer  pursues, 
The  hunter  and  the  deer  —  a  shade.3 

And  a  line  in  Marmion  (i8o8),4 

And  snatched  the  spear,  but  left  the  shield !  5 

changes  but  slightly  a  line  in  the  American  poet's  verses 
to  the  memory  of  the  soldiers  who  fell  at  Eutaw  Springs  : 

They  saw  their  injur'd  country's  woe; 
The  flaming  town,  the  wasted  field; 
Then  rush'd  to  meet  the  insulting  foe; 
They  took  the  spear  —  but  left  the  shield.6 

The  Wild  Honeysuckle  is  the  high- water  mark  of  Ameri 
can  poetry  of  the  eighteenth  century,  in  delicacy  of  feel 
ing  and  felicity  of  expression  being  at  least  the  equal  of 
Bryant's  To  the  Fringed  Gentian.  When  such  lines  were 
possible  in  the  very  infancy  of  the  national  life,  there  was 
no  reason  to  despair  for  the  future  of  American  literature. 

1  Professor  Tyler  was  the  first,  so  far  as  I  know,  to  point  out  this  fact, 

2  Poetical  Works,  p.  59,  Aldine  ed.,  1891. 

3  Miscellaneous  Works,  p.  189,  ed.  1788. 

4  Introduction  to  Canto  III. 

5  Scott's  Poetical  Works,  p.  77,  Globe  ed.,  1890. 

6  Poems,  p.  229,  ed.  1786. 


66  THE   REVOLUTIONARY   PERIOD. 

Of  the  Tory  satirists  JONATHAN  ODELL  (1737-1818),  an 
Episcopalian  clergyman  of  old  Massachusetts  stock,  was 
by  far  the  best.  '  His  satires,  upon  the  model  of  Dryden, 
Pope,  and  Churchill,  are  polished,  keen,  and  powerful. 
They  reveal  intense  party  bias  and  venom,  but  are  mani 
festly  sincere  in  their  opposition  to  a  war  which  the 
writer  regarded  as  needless,  treasonable,  cruel,  and  hope 
less.  His  pen-portraits  of  the  Revolutionary  leaders, 
though  unjust,  are  strong.  Of  Congress  he  says,  — 

....  since  Creation's  dawn, 
Earth  never  yet  produc'd  so  vile  a  spawn; l 

of  John  Jay,  — 

....  to  him  these  characters  belong; 
Sure  sense  of  right,  with  fix'd  pursuit  of  wrong; 
An  outside  keen,  where  malice  makes  abode, 
Voice  of  a  lark  and  venom  of  a  toad;  2 

of  General  Mifflin, — 

Fierce  Mifflin  foremost  in  the  ranks  was  found : 

Ask  you  the  cause?     He  owed  ten  thousand  pound;  8 

and  of  Washington,  — 

Was  it  ambition,  vanity,  or  spite, 

That  prompted  thee  with  Congress  to  unite  ? 

Or  did  all  three  within  thy  bosom  roll, 

"  Thou  heart  of  hero  with  a  traitor's  soul?  " 

Go,  wretched  author  of  thy  country's  grief, 

Patron  of  villainy,  of  villains  chief.4 

One  more  literary  species,  the  Drama,  began  to  de 
velop  in  America  during  the  Revolutionary  period.5  Pon- 

1  The  Word  of  Congress,  in  The  Loyalist  Poetry  of  the  Revolution, 
p.  50,  ed.  1857. 

2  The  American  Times,  Part  I.,  p.  4,  ed.  1780. 

8  The  Word  of  Congress,  in  The  Loyalist  Poetry  of  the  Revolution, 
p.  44,  ed.  1857. 

4  The  American  Times,  Part  I.,  p.  12,  ed.  1780. 

6  English  plays  had  been  acted  in  New  York  in  1732.     In  1749-1852 


THE   DRAMA.  67 

teach  :  or  the  Savages  of  America  (1766),  supposedly  by 
ROBERT  ROGERS,  an  American  officer  in  the  French  and 
Indian  War,  portrays  with  much  realism  the  deceit  and 
cruelty  of  the  whites  in  their  dealings  with  the  red  men  ; 
but  the  Indians  themselves  are  not  at  all  true  to  life, 
Pontiac  talking  and  acting  like  a  European  statesman, 
and  his  son  Philip  being  a  sort  of  Edmund-Iago.  The 
Disappointment;  or  the  Force  of  Credulity  (1767),  by 
ANDREW  BARTON,  is  a  rollicking  comedy  about  buried 
treasure,  and  contains  real  though  sometimes  coarse 
humor.  MERCY  WARREN'S  The  Adulateur  (1773)  deals, 
under  a  thin  disguise,  with  the  Boston  Massacre.  Her 
comedy  The  Group  (1775)  makes  scornful  fun  of  the 
leading  New  England  Loyalists.  She  also  wrote  two 
commonplace  historical  plays,  The  Sack  of  Rome  and 
The  Ladies  of  Castile ;  they  have  some  strength  of  style, 
but  are  often  bombastic,  and  the  blank  verse  is  wooden. 
The  Fall  of  British  Tyranny  (1776),  of  uncertain  author 
ship,  recounts  in  prose  the  events  of  the  struggle  thus 
far,  and  satirizes  the  Tories  and  British  with  considerable 

the  plays  of  Shakspere,  Dryden,  Otway,  and  others  were  performed  in 
Philadelphia,  New  York,  and  Annapolis,  by  a  company  consisting  in 
part  of  professionals.  Hallam's  London  company  played  in  Williams- 
burg,  Va.,  in  1752-1753;  in  New  York,  in  1753-1754;  in  Philadelphia, 
in  1754.  Reorganized,  it  acted  in  New  York  in  1758,  1761-1766;  in 
Philadelphia,  1759;  in  Annapolis,  1760;  in  Newport,  1761;  in  Provi 
dence,  1762.  A  permanent  theatre  was  built  in  Philadelphia  in  1766 ; 
in  New  York,  1767 ;  in  Annapolis,  1771 ;  in  Charleston,  S.  C.,  1773. 
During  the  occupation  of  Boston,  New  York,  and  Philadelphia  by  Brit 
ish  troops,  plays  were  given  by  the  officers.  Congress,  by  recommenda 
tions  to  the  states  in  1774  and  1778,  did  all  it  could  to  close  the  theatre 
elsewhere  ;  in  1774  the  American  company  left  Philadelphia  for  Jamaica ; 
but  in  1781  the  first  playhouse  in  Baltimore  was  erected.  After  the 
Revolution  professional  players  cautiously  resumed  operations  —  in 
Philadelphia,  in  1784;  in  New  York  and  Savannah,  in  1785;  in  Mary 
land  and  Virginia,  in  1786. 


68  THE    REVOLUTIONARY    PERIOD. 

rude  vigor.  Of  much  more  literary  merit  are  *The  Battle 
of  Bunkers-Hill  (1776)  and  The  Death  of  General 
Montgomery  (1777),  by  HUGH  H.  BRACKENRIDGE  ;  both 
are  reading  dramas  only,  consisting  of  long  speeches  in 
rather  stiff  blank  verse,  but  they  show  considerable  lit 
erary  culture  and  are  inspired  by  an  ardent  and  noble 
patriotism.  The  Blockheads  (1776),  making  coarse  fun 
of  the  fright  of  the  British  officers  in  Boston  after  the 
battle  of  Bunker  Hill;  The  Battle  of  Brooklyn  (1776), 
by  some  Tory  or  British  hand,  portraying  the  American 
soldiers  and  generals  as  cowards  and  grossly  immoral ; 
The  Motley  Assembly  (1779),  a  few  loosely  connected 
scenes  of  small  force,  directed  against  Tories  and  Whig 
turncoats;  and  The  Blockheads  (1782),  an  opera,  ex 
pressing  the  Loyalist  dislike  of  the  French  alliance  as 
dangerous  to  liberty,  and  pining  for  friendship  once 
more  with  "dear  Albion"  —  all  deserve  mention  merely 
as  mirrors  of  the  strife  and  passion  of  the  times.  In  The 
Patriot  Chief  (1784),  said  to  be  by  PETER  MARKOE,  we 
return  to  the  realm  of  pure  literature.  The  scene  is 
Lydia;  the  main  characters  are  Otanes,  Araspes,  Ismene, 
and  the  Lydian  king ;  the  plot  is  the  conventional  one  of 
political  ambition,  love,  and  mistaken  identity ;  and  the 
style  is  in  general  high-flying  and  stagey.  The  Drama  in 
England  itself  was  now  in  a  bad  way,  and  had  been  for 
long ;  it  was  not  to  be  expected  that  plays  of  high  merit 
could  yet  be  written  in  the  New  World.  The  first  rich 
harvests  of  American  literature  were  to  be  reaped  in 
other  fields ;  and  after  two  centuries  of  preparation  the 
reaping-time  was  now  not  far  distant. 


THE    PERIOD   OF   THE    REPUBLIC 


FOREWORDS. 

THE  great  task  of  Colonial  and  Revolutionary  America 
was  to  settle  the  Atlantic  seaboard,  establish  provincial 
governments,  and  achieve  independence  and  national 
union.  The  great  task  of  the  Republic  has  been  to 
extend  the  national  domain  to  Mexico  and  the  Pacific 
Ocean,  carve  out  new  states  from  this  territory  and  bring 
them  into  the  Union,  throttle  secession,  rid  the  nation  of 
the  incubus  of  slavery,  furnish  an  asylum  for  the  poor  and 
oppressed  of  the  Old  World,  and  play  a  leading  part  in  the 
development  of  modern  industrial  civilization.  We  have 
already  seen  how  slight  and  crude  American  literature  was 
during  the  first  two  centuries.  Even  the  literature  of  the 
Republic  is  still  a  minor  product  in  comparison  with  the 
nation's  achievements  in  other  fields.  The  United  States 
is  even  yet  too  young,  too  crass,  too  much  absorbed  in 
the  struggle  with  physical  nature,  it  has  not  even  yet 
enough  of  the  mellowing  that  comes  with  time,  of  the 
enriching  and  beautifying  of  the  national  life  that  wait 
upon  venerable  historic  associations,  ancient  legend,  and 
the  noble  leisure  of  an  old  civilization,  to  produce  the 
greatest  art.  American  literature  at  its  best  is  still  much 
below  English  and  Italian  and  Greek  literatures  at  their 
best.  As  a  whole  it  is  inferior  even  to  English  literature 
of  the  nineteenth  century.  No  false  patriotism  or  personal 
affection  for  a  favorite  author  should  blind  us  to  these 
facts.  Tennyson,  Carlyle,  Thackeray,  Shelley,  Wordsworth, 


72  THE   PERIOD    OF   THE    REPUBLIC. 

Scott,  —  what  six  American  poets  and  prose-writers  shall 
we  place  on  an  equality  with  these  men?  And  how  puny 
are  our  greatest  compared  with  the  giants  of  the  ages  — 
Goethe,  Milton,  Shakspere,  Dante,  Virgil,  Sophocles, 
Homer.  But  we  may,  nevertheless,  justly  be  proud  of 
the  literature  of  the  Republic.  The  day  of  Wigglesworth 
and  Barlow  has  forever  gone.  The  day  of  Irving,  Poe, 
Longfellow,  Hawthorne,  Lowell,  and  Emerson  has  come ; 
and  in  them  and  their  fellows  we  have  given  beautiful 
gifts  unto  men. 

Even  within  the  period  of  the  Republic,  however,  the 
years  of  literary  bloom  have  been  all  too  few.  Since  the 
War  of  the  Revolution  four  generations  have  come 
upon  the  scene.  In  the  first  generation,  ending  approxi 
mately  with  the  War  of  1812,  American  literature  shared 
in  the  general  weakness  and  crudeness  of  the  young 
nation's  life,  although  it  shared  likewise  in  the  promise  of 
coming  strength.  In  the  second  and  third  generations, 
ending  approximately  with  the  Civil  War,  lived  and 
wrote  most  of  the  authors  who  first  lifted  our  literature 
out  of  the  dust,  and  gave  it  an  honorable  though  subordi 
nate  place  among  the  literatures  of  the  world.  In  the 
fourth  generation,  ending  with  the  century,  American 
literature  has  been  characterized  by  fresh  beginnings  and 
a  new  spirit  rather  than  by  great  achievement.  Our 
literature,  like  our  country,  seems  to  be  standing  upon 
the  threshold  of  a  new  era.  Just  what  that  era  will  be, 
no  man  can  say;  but  there  is  reason  for  the  faith  that 
it  will  not  be  unworthy  of  the  maturing  life  of  a  great 
people. 


III.    THE    PERIOD    OF    THE 
REPUBLIC. 

(1789-1900.) 

i.    THE    LITERATURE    OF    THE   TIME    OF    NATIONAL 
BEGINNINGS  (1789-1815). 

HISTORICAL  EVENTS. 


Washington's         administrations, 

1789-1797. 

Outbreak  of  the   French  Revolu 
tion,  1789. 
First  tariff,  1789. 

Funding  the  national  debt,  1790. 
Indian  wars,  1790-1794,  1811. 
Invention  of  the  cotton-gin,  1793. 
Whiskey  Insurrection  suppressed, 

1794. 
Jay's    treaty   with    Great    Britain, 

1794. 
Adams's      administration,      1797- 

1801. 
Preparations  for  war  with  France, 

1798. 
Kentucky  nullification  resolutions, 

1799. 
Death  of  Washington,  1799. 


Washington  City  becomes  the  capi 
tal,  1800. 
Jefferson's    administrations,    1801- 

1809. 

War  with  Tripoli,  1801-1805. 
Louisiana  Purchase,  1803. 
Lewis  and  Clarke's  expedition  to 

Pacific,  1804-1806. 
Fulton's  steamboat  on  the  Hudson, 

1807. 

The  Embargo,  1807-1809. 
Importation   of    slaves    forbidden, 

1808. 
!  Madison's    administrations,    1809- 

1817. 
First  steamboat  on  the   Ohio  and 

the  Mississippi,  1811. 
War  with  England,  1812-1815. 
Hartford  Convention,  1814. 


LITERATURE  IN  ENGLAND. 


Burns's  poems,  1786-1802. 

Ann    Radcliffe's    romances,    1789- 

1797. 
Burke's  Reflections  on  the  French 

Revolution,  1790. 
Blake's  later  poems,  1791-1794. 
Roger's  Pleasures  of  Memory,  1792. 
Godwin's   Political  Justice,  1793 ; 

Caleb  Williams,  1794. 


Poems  by  Southey,  1794-1814. 

Lewis's  romances  and  tales,  1795- 
1808. 

Wordsworth  and  Coleridge's  Lyri 
cal  Ballads,  1798. 

Landor's  Gebir,  1798. 

Campbell's  Pleasures  of  Hope, 
1799 ;  Gertrude  of  Wyoming^ 
1809. 


73 


74        THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1789   TO    1815. 


Poems  by  Moore,  1800-1812. 
Narrative  poems  by  Scott,    1805- 

1813. 
Crabbe's    Parish    Register,    1807; 

Borough,  1 8 10. 


Poems  by  Wordsworth,  1807  ;  Ex 
cursion,  1814. 

Jane  Austen's  novels,  1811-1818. 

"Byron's  Childc  Harold,  I.  and  II., 
1812;  Eastern  tales  in  verse, 
1813-1814. 


During  the  first  quarter-century  of  its  existence  the 
young  Republic  was  beset  with  peculiar  dangers,  but  the 
character  of  the  men  at  the  head  of  affairs  ensured  a  suc 
cessful  issue.  Washington,  Adams,  Jefferson,  and  Madi 
son  as  Presidents,  Hamilton  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
Marshall  as  Chief  Justice,  and  others  in  various  positions 
of  power  were  master  workmen  in  statecraft.  They 
manifested  a  large  wisdom  in  interpreting  and  adminis 
tering  the  fundamental  law  of  the  land  amid  perplexing 
new  problems ;  asserted  the  authority  of  the  national 
government  in  the  face  of  tendencies  to  insurrection  and 
secession  in  South  and  North  alike ;  avoided  useless 
entanglements  abroad  during  the  fever  of  the  French 
Revolution  and  the  Napoleonic  wars ;  when  it  became 
necessary  to  strike  a  foreign  foe,  struck  hard  ;  established 
the  tottering  national  credit  upon  a  bed  of  rock  ;  by  tariffs 
secured  ample  revenues,  and  incidentally  encouraged  the 
development  of  the  country's  magnificent  resources  for 
mining  and  manufactures  ;  set  up  territorial  governments 
in  the  West ;  and  brought  five  new  states  into  the  Union. 
All  this  was  a  task  for  giants,  but  there  were  giants  for 
the  task.  By  the  end  of  the  War  of  1812  the  new  ship  of 
state  had  "  found  herself "  and  was  ready  for  a  longer 
voyage  over  stormier  seas. 

In  population,  settlement  of  old  territory,  and  acquisi 
tion  of  new  the  advance  was  also  great.  The  census  of 
1810  showed  a  population  of  more  than  seven  millions, 


GENERAL   CONDITIONS.  75 

or  nearly  double  that  of  1790;  the  frontier  line  was 
pushed  steadily  back  toward  the  Mississippi;  and  the 
Louisiana  purchase  threw  open  the  immense  tract  be 
tween  the  Mississippi  and  the  Rocky  Mountains.  This 
rapid  growth  in  numbers  and  territory  involved  a  like 
growth  in  wealth  and  industry.  The  North  raised  and 
exported  large  quantities  of  cereals.  At  the  South,  rice 
and  sugar-cane  were  proving  valuable  products  ;  and  since 
the  invention  of  the  cotton-gin,  cotton  "was  king  already, 
...  the  crop  exported  in  1810  being  worth  over  fifteen 
million  dollars." l  Cotton  and  woollen  manufactures 
steadily  increased,  although  they  were  still  in  their 
infancy.  Manufactures  of  wood  and  leather  prospered. 
Mining  and  metal  industries  were  yet  in  a  backward 
state,  but  in  common  with  all  manufactures  they  were 
feeling  the  stimulus  of  the  tariff,  the  embargo,  and  the 
war  with  England.  The  ocean  commerce  of  neutral 
America  flourished  mightily  during  the  long-continued 
European  wars.  The  coasting  trade  was  also  growing, 
and  the  great  rivers  and  lakes  bore  steadily  increasing 
freights  even  before  the  introduction  of  the  steamboat. 
But  traffic  by  land  was  still  difficult  and  costly ;  "  to 
haul  a  ton  from  Philadelphia  to  Pittsburg  .  .  .  cost  a 
hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars  ;  "  2  the  construction  of 
turnpikes  and  canals  therefore  received  much  attention, 
until  the  coming  of  the  locomotive  revolutionized  over 
land  traffic. 

Social,  intellectual,  and  moral  conditions  differed  widely 
in  different  sections.     New  England  was  still  the  home 

1  Schouler's  History  of  the  United  States,  Vol.  II.,  p.  215. 

2  McMaster's  A  History  of  the  People  of  the  United  States,  Vol.  III., 
p.  463. 


76        THE   LITERATURE   FROM    1789   TO    1815. 

of  independent  religion  and  sober  morals,  of  solid  intellect, 
universal  education,  and  careful  industry,  although  the 
Puritan  grimness  had  moderated  and  dwindled  into  a 
rather  prim  propriety.  The  Middle  States  were  still 
the  seat  of  a  mixed  population,  New  York  in  particular, 
a  city  of  many  tongues,  having  already  something  of  a 
cosmopolitan  character;  Albany  was  a  staid  half- Dutch 
town ;  Philadelphia  retained  its  reputation  for  quiet  in 
telligence  ;  Baltimore  and  Washington  were  gay  society 
centres ;  while  throughout  the  rural  districts  might  be 
found  the  honest  and  industrious  if  rather  dull  Swedish, 
German,  and  Dutch  farmers.  In  the  South  the  growth 
of  slavery  was  confirming  the  aristocratic  division  of 
society  into  masters,  slaves,  and  "  poor  whites."  The 
South  was  also  still  deficient  in  schools  and  cities, 
although  Charleston  remained  a  centre  of  intelligence 
and  gayety,  and  Savannah,  Raleigh,  and  Richmond  were 
rising  into  some  prominence.  But  the  old  hospitality 
of  the  Southern  gentleman  had  only  refined  with  time ; 
honor  between  man  and  man,  and  chivalry  toward  woman, 
ennobled  Southern  society ;  and  plantation  life,  with  its 
habits  of  self-reliance  and  command,  continued  to  be  a 
training-school  for  leaders  in  national  affairs.  Our  new 
possessions  in  the  Southwest,  including  the  old  city  of 
New  Orleans,  had  brought  into  the  Union  the  new  ele 
ments  of  French  gayety  and  grace,  of  grave  Spanish 
courtesy  and  romance,  elements  destined  to  furnish  rich 
subject-matter  for  our  literature  in  future  years.  On  the 
Father  of  Waters  and  his  giant  tributaries  was  fast  develop 
ing  a  peculiar  and  picturesque  type  of  life,  which,  however, 
would  have  to  wait  two  generations  or  more  for  adequate 
expression  in  letters ;  while  along  the  Western  frontier 


A   TRANSITION   PERIOD.  77 

and  in  the  far  West,  the  squatter,  the  hunter,  the  ex 
plorer,  and  the  Indian  were  making  material  for  the 
literature  which  they  could  not  write. 

From  this  brief  survey  it  will  be  seen  that  the  condi 
tions  in  the  United  States  as  a  whole  were  still  unfavorable 
for  literature  and  the  fine  arts.  The  energies  of  the 
people  were  largely  absorbed  with  the  problems  of 
physical  or  political  existence ;  and  the  great  majority 
of  the  population  lived  in  the  country,  away  from  the 
stimulus  and  culture  of  cities.1  Nevertheless,  in  portions 
of  New  England  and  the  Middle  States  the  conditions 
were  better  than  they  had  ever  been  before.  Cities  of 
considerable  size  now  existed.  In  1810  the  population 
of  Boston  was  33,250;  of  Philadelphia,  57,488;  of  New 
York,  96,373  ;  and  in  these  and  other  centres  a  good 
measure  of  wealth  and  leisure,  of  social  gayety  and  re 
finement,  of  culture,  knowledge,  and  literary  intelligence, 
was  common.  Old  colleges  were  growing,  new  colleges 
were  springing  up,  newspapers  and  magazines  abounded 
more  and  more.2  Yet  even  in  the  cities  great  libraries, 
art  collections,  circles  of  artists  and  men  of  letters,  and 
the  general  atmosphere  helpful  to  the  literary  and  artistic 
life  were  largely  or  altogether  lacking.  American  schools 
of  painting,  sculpture,  and  music  did  not  exist,3  and 

1  In  1810  only  five  per  cent  of  the  population  lived  in  cities  of  8000 
or  more  inhabitants.      Furthermore,   the   exodus   of  Tories   after  the 
Revolution  had  robbed  city  and  country  alike  of  many  of  the  most 
cultured  citizens. 

2  In  1810  there  were  359  newspapers,  including  27  dailies.      Among 
the   magazines   were    The  Port  Folio,  Philadelphia,    1801-1827;     The 
Monthly  Register,  Charleston,  S.  C.,  1805  ;  and  The  Analectic  Magazine, 
Philadelphia,  1813-1820. 

3  Benjamin  West  (1738-1820),  John  S.  Copley  (1737-1815),  Gilbert 
Stuart  (1755-1828),  Charles  R.  Leslie  (1794-1859),  and  other  American 


78        THE   LITERATURE   FROM    1789   TO    1815. 

American  literature  as  a  whole  was  still  sadly  deficient  in 
originality,  beauty,  and  power.  And  yet  the  literature  of 
this  time  of  beginnings  has  significance  and  promise,  and 
cannot  be  passed  by  carelessly  if  one  would  understand 
the  historical  development  of  American  literature.  It 
was  closely  linked  with  the  immediate  past ;  in  some  ways 
it  prophesied  and  prepared  for  the  better  future ;  and 
parts  of  it  had  considerable  intrinsic  merit.  Between 
the  literature  of  the  Revolutionary  period  and  that  of 
the  second  generation  under  the  Republic  'how  great  the 
difference.  The  literature  of  the  intervening  generation 
affords  a  partial  explanation  of  the  change,  not  so  much 
by  its  achievement  as  by  its  tendencies  and  attempts. 

In  Revolutionary  days  America  was  already  a  land  of 
Orators,  and  under  the  Republic  the  brood  naturally 
multiplied  apace.  Contemporary  English  oratory  was 
the  model  for  American,  solidity  of  thought  and  stateli- 
ness  of  manner  rather  than  brilliance  or  vivacity  being 
conspicuous  features,  although  the  tendencies  of  the 
more  nervous  American  temperament  had  already  begun 
to  manifest  themselves.  In  these  days  flourished  the 
Fourth  of  July  oration,  too  often  compact  of  patriotic 
bombast  and  cheap  self-glorification.  In  Congress  were 
many  effective  speakers  and  a  few  real  orators,  among 
whom  FISHER  AMES  of  Massachusetts  and  JOHN  RAN 
DOLPH  of  Virginia  were  prominent.  Ames,  a  man  of  fine 
mind  and  high  character,  hating  exaggeration  and  rant, 
had  an  oratorical  style  that  was  nervous,  tastefully  ornate, 
and  intense  with  restrained  passion.  Randolph,  a  de- 
painters  studied  and  lived  chiefly  or  wholly  abroad,  and  their  style  of 
painting  was  essentially  English.  Of  American  sculptors  and  musicians 
there  were  none  worthy  of  mention. 


ORATORS    AND    ESSAYISTS.  79 

scendant  of  Pocahontas,  excelled  in  sarcasm  ;  his  oratory 
had  little  grace,  but  it  bit  like  an  acid  and  was  often 
brilliant  though  erratic.  Among  the  Biographies,  JOHN 
MARSHALL'S  Life  of  Washington  (1804-1807)  and  WIL 
LIAM  WIRT'S  Life  and  Character  of  Patrick  Henry  (1817) 
hold  places  of  honor.  Essays,  political,  scientific,  philo 
sophical,  religious,  moral,  and  literary,  appeared  from  time 
to  time,  but  were  for  the  most  part  of  no  great  merit. 
THOMAS  PAINE'S  Rights  of  Man  (1791-1792),  in  reply  to 
Burke's  Reflections  on  the  French  Revolution,  is  a  lucid 
and  spirited,  if  somewhat  shallow,  exposition  of  the  new 
political  philosophy.  His  Age  of  Reason  (1794-1795), 
much  read  and  more  feared  in  its  day,  although  it  antici 
pated  some  of  the  conclusions  of  modern  Biblical  schol 
arship,  is  often  carping  and  flippant,  and  its  racy  style 
has  not  sufficed  to  keep  it  alive.  The  essays  of  NOAH 
WEBSTER,1  Count  RUMFORD,  and  BENJAMIN  RUSH  can  be 
only  mentioned  in  passing.  WIRT'S  Letters  of  the  Brit 
ish  Spy  (1803)  in  neat  and  graceful  style  draws  pictures 
of  men  and  manners  in  Virginia,  including  the  once 
famous  sketch  of  the  Blind  Preacher,  in  which  the  self- 
conscious  "sensibility"  of  Sterne,  Mackenzie,  and  the 
rest  of  the  sentimental  school,  lingers  still.  The  best 
and  most  celebrated  literary  essays  of  the  time,  the  Sal 
magundi  papers  by  Irving  and  Paulding,  will  be  more 
conveniently  described  on  a  later  page. 

In  the  above  classes  of  prose  works  was  nothing  par 
ticularly  promising  or  new.  But  in  Poetry  the  Romanti 
cism  of  Wordsworth,  Scott,  and  Byron  quickly  made 
itself  felt,  so  that  later,  when  the  greater  American  poets 

1  Webster's  Speller  (dating  from  1783) ,  which  supplanted  The  New 
England  Primer,  is  almost  literature  by  reason  of  its  admirable  fables. 


8o        THE   LITERATURE   FROM    1789  TO    1815. 

took  up  the  lyre,  it  was  already  vibrating  with  the  richer 
melodies  of  the  new  poesie.  In  addition,  in  a  few  in 
stances  distinctively  American  material  was  handled  with 
greater  success  than  ever  before,  and  emancipation  from 
provincial  dependence  in  literature  thereby  advanced  a 
step,  though  a  short  one.  But  the  intrinsic  worth  of 
most  of  the  poetry  is  small,  perhaps  even  less  than  in  the 
preceding  period.  Of  Religious,  Moral,  and  other 
Didactic  Verse,  chiefly  upon  the  model  of  Akenside, 
Rogers,  and  Campbell,  there  was  no  lack.  Most  of  it  is 
as  dull  as  it  is  pious,  virtuous,  and  learned  ;  it  points 
toward  happiness,  but  affords  the  reader  little  on  the  way, 
although  the  verse  and  style  have  usually  some  finish. 
As  representative  may  be  mentioned  The  Power  of  Soli 
tude  (1804),  by  JOSEPH  STORY,  and  The  Pains  of  Memory 
(1808),  by  an  anonymous  author.  Of  much  higher 
merit  are  the  didactic  poems  of  ROBERT  TREAT  PAINE 
(1773-1811),  a  man  of  versatile  and  brilliant  parts  but 
dissipated  character.  His  lyrics,  orations,  and  dramatic 
criticisms  all  show  ability.  But  his  best  work  is  The 
Ruling  Passion,  a  poem  delivered  before  the  Phi  Beta 
Kappa  at  Harvard  in  1 797,  frankly  on  the  model  of  Pope, 
but  so  witty,  vigorous,  and  pointed  that  it  does  honor  to 
its  original.  Fops  he  calls 

.     .     .     sweet  elves,  whose  rival  graces  vie, 
To  wield  the  snuff-box,  or  enact  a  sigh. 
The  miser 

Still  clings  to  life,  of  every  joy  bereft; 
His  god  is  gold,  and  his  religion  theft ! 
The  pedant, 

Wrinkled  in  Latin,  and  in  Greek  fourscore, 
With  toil  incessant,  thumbs  the  ancient  page, 
Now  blots  a  hero,  now  turns  down  a  sage. 


POETRY.  81 

Poems  of  Fancy,  Sentiment,  Humor,  Wit,  and  Satire 
may  be  loosely  grouped  together  as  a  second  class.  The 
poems  of  fancy  and  sentiment  are  often  pretty,  although 
many  are  stale ;  some  of  the  humorous  and  witty  verses 
are  still  enjoyable ;  and  the  satires  occasionally  hit  hard 
with  keen  weapons.  Miscellaneous  Poems  (1804),  by 
SUSANNA  H.  ROWSON,  are  slight  but  show  facility,  espe 
cially  in  the  songs.  The  Breechiad  (1807),  by  "  Ther 
esa,"  in  lively  pentameter  couplets,  tells  women  how  to 
rule  their  husbands.  The  anonymous  author  of  Boston 
(1803),  a  satire  of  considerable  force  and  knack  at 
phrasing,  makes  fun  of  the  literary  affectations  of  that 
ever  literary  city  :  — 

Long  odes  to  monkies,  squirrel  elligies, 
Lines  and  acrostics  on  dead  butterflies;   .  .  . 
Elegiac  lays  such  taste  and  truth  combine, 
The  lap-dog  lives  and  barks  in  every  line. 

Some  of  the  lyrics  in  WILLIAM  CLIFFTON'S  Poems  (1800) 
have  a  good  deal  of  fancy,  flow,  and  feeling  for  poetic 
words ;  The  Group,  a  satire,  is  forcible  and  finished. 
The  Country  Lovers  in  Original  Poems  (1804),  by 
THOMAS  G.  FESSENDEN,  anticipates  Lowell's  The  Courtirt 
and  is  a  good  sample  of  the  broadly  humorous  verse  :  — 

"  Miss  Sal,  I 's  going  to  say,  as  how, 

We  '11  spark  it  here  to  night, 
I  kind  of  love  you,  Sal  —  I  vow, 

And  mother  said  I  might.  .  .  . 
My  father  has  a  nice  bull  calf, 

Which  shall  be  your's,  my  sweet  one, 
'T  will  weigh  two  hundred  and  a  half,"  — 

Says  Sal,  "  Well,  that 's  a  neat  one. 


82        THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1789  TO    1815. 

Your  father 's  full  of  fun,  d'  ye  see, 

And  faith,  I  likes  his  sporting, 
To  send  his  fav'rite  calf  to  me, 

His  nice  bull-calf  a  courting." 

Fessenden's  Terrible  Tractoration  (1803),  a  Hucfibrastic 
satire  concerning  medical  squabbles,  had  a  great  run  in 
America  and  England,  but  is  now  unreadable  in  spite  of 
its  rough  vigor.  By  far  the  best  poem  of  fancy  is  The 
Sylphs  of  the  Seasons  (1813),  by  WASHINGTON  ALLSTON, 
the  artist,1  containing  such  delicate  work  as  this  :  — 

Now,  in  the  passing  beetle's  hum 
The  Elfin  army's  goblin  drum 

To  pygmy  battle  sound; 
And  now,  where  dripping  dew-drops  plash 
On  waving  grass,  their  bucklers  clash, 
And  now  their  quivering  lances  flash, 

Wide-dealing  death  around.  .  .  . 

Or  seen  at  dawn  of  eastern  light 
The  frosty  toil  of  Fays  by  night 

On  pane  of  casement  clear, 
Where  bright  the  mimic  glaciers  shine, 
And  Alps,  with  many  a  mountain  pine, 
And  armed  knights  from  Palestine 

In  winding  march  appear.     . 

In  the  third  class — Romantic  Tales  ,and  Ballads  — 
the  spirit  of  the  new  English  poetry  blows  full  upon  us. 
Stories  of  adventure  and  love  in  distant  ages  and  climes, 

1  Allston  (1779-1843)  was  a  native  of  South  Carolina,  a  graduate  of 
Harvard,  and  had  studied  art  abroad,  where  he  was  resident  in  1813 ; 
but  R.  H.  Dana  says  (  The  North  American  Review,  1817)  that  The 
Sylphs  was  written  in  this  country,  he  having  seen  it  in  manuscript. 
After  1818  Allston  lived  in  Boston  and  Cambridge;  his  lectures  on  art 
were  published  in  1850. 


ROMANTIC   TALES    AND    BALLADS.  83 

ballads  in  which  distressed  maidens,  hermits  with  a 
mysterious  past,  interesting  and  pathetic  lunatics,  and 
sundry  phases  of  the  supernatural  are  utilized  for  poetic 
purposes,  show  that  in  America  as  in  England  the 
dynasty  of  Pope,  Young,  and  Goldsmith  was  fast  giving 
place  to  that  of  Wordsworth,  Coleridge,  Scott,  and  Byron. 
In  conception  and  execution  these  poems,  like  all  imita 
tions,  have  no  lasting  value.  But  it  meant  a  good  deal 
for  the  future  of  American  poetry  that  it  should  be 
liberated  thus  early  from  the  limitations  of  eighteenth- 
century  verse.  Oudbi,  an  Indian  Tale  (1790),  by 
SARAH  MORTON,  has  occasionally  some  good  lines,  such 
as  these  describing  a  wounded  Indian :  — 

A  ghastly  figure  issued  from  the  wood, 
Writhing  with  anguish,  like  the  wounded  fawn, 
Cover'd  with  darts,  and  stain'd  with  clotted  blood. 

In  JOHN  B.  LINN'S  Valerian  (1805),  narrating  the  adven 
tures  of  a  Roman  noble  shipwrecked  on  the  shores  of 
the  Caspian  Sea,  lines  like  the  following  show  the  new 
freedom  of  style  and  fresh  feeling  for  nature  :  — 

Some  mossy  trees  bent  over  his  rude  cot, 
And  swinging  to  the  winds  their  giant  arms, 
Made  music  like  the  dashing  of  the  sea. 

The  account  of  a  boar-hunt  is  spirited,  and  a  part  of 
the  description  of  the  boar  is  capital :  — 

he  champed  the  foam 
Which  dropped  down  roping  from  his  crooked  tusks. 

Hubert  and  Ellen  (1812),  by  Lucius  M.  SARGENT,  a 
story  of  love,  sorrow,  and  madness,  in  its  too-conscious 
simplicity  reminds  one  of  Wordsworth's  poorer  style,  and 
the  whole  poem  is  a  sort  of  diluted  Ruth.  In  JOSEPH 


84        THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1789  TO    1815. 

HUTTON'S  Leisure  Hours  (1812),  the  romantic  tendency 
appears  strongly  in  ballads  on  Crazy  Jane,  the  Saracen, 
and  the  Maid  of  Savoy,  and  in  a  paraphrase  of  a  scene 
from  Lewis's  The  Castle  Spectre.  The  Broken  Harp 
(1815),  by  HENRY  C.  KNIGHT,  contains  a  ballad,  Poor 
Margaret  Dwy,  much  like  Wordsworth's  Ruth  in  subject 
and  manner :  — 

Poor  thing!  she  knows  not  what  she  will; 

She  '11  feel  the  cold,  and  not  complain; 
She  '11  beat  her  bosom  blue  and  chill, 

And  love  the  pleasure  of  the  pain. 

Some  of  the  Poems  on  Nature  and  Common  Life  — 
the  fourth  class  —  show  a  trend  toward  the  realism  of 
Wordsworth  and  Crabbe.  In  ALEXANDER  WILSON'S  The 
Foresters  (1809),  the  humble  home  of  a  Pennsylvania 
Dutch  farmer  is  pictured  with  courageous  truth  of 
detail :  — 

There  washed  our  boots,  and,  entering  took  our  seat, 

Stript  to  the  trowsers  in  the  glowing  heat. 

The  mindful  matron  spread  her  table  near, 

Smoking  with  meat,  and  filled  with  plenteous  cheer.  .  .  . 

The  wheel,  the  cards,  by  fire-light  buzzing  go; 

The  careful  mother  kneads  her  massy  dough  ; 

Even  little  Mary  at  her  needle  sits, 

And  while  she  nurses  pussy,  nicely  knits. 

In  its  neat  perspective  this  sketch  of  a  landscape  as  seen 
from  a  mountain-top  resembles  passages  from  Cowper  :  - 

Below,  at  dreadful  depth,  the  river  lay, 
Shrunk  to  a  brook  'midst  little  fields  of  hay; 
From  right  to  left,  where'er  the  prospect  led, 
The  reddening  forest  like  a  carpet  spread; 
Beyond,  immense,  to  the  horizon's  close, 
Huge  amphitheatres  of  mountains  rose. 


POEMS    ON    NATURE.  85 

The  following  description  of  Niagara,  however  crude, 
has  the  merit  of  keeping  its  eye  on  the  object :  — 

Saw  its  white  torrents  undulating  pour 

From  heaven  to  earth  with  deafening,  crashing  roar; 

Dashed  in  the  wild  and  torn  abyss  below, 

'Midst  dazzling  foam  and  whirling  storms  of  snow, 

While  the  whole  monstrous  mass,  and  country  round, 

Shook  as  with  horror  at  the  o'erwhelming  sound  ! 

Within  this  concave,  vast,  dark,  frowning,  deep, 

Eternal  rains  and  howling  whirlwinds  sweep. 

Other  of  the  nature  poems  combine  the  new  accuracy 
of  observation  with  poetic  beauty  and  often  with  fancy. 
The  eye  of  the  painter  is  manifest  in  this  stanza  from 
Allston's  The  Sylphs  of  the  Seasons,  already  men 
tioned  :  — 

Or  lur'd  thee  to  some  beetling  steep 
To  mark  the  deep  and  quiet  sleep 

That  wrapt  the  tarn  below; 
And  mountain  blue  and  forest  green 
Inverted  on  its  plane  serene, 
Dim  gleaming  through  the  filmy  sheen 

That  glaz'd  the  painted  show. 

Henr-  C.  Knight,  whose  The  Broken  Harp  has  been 
referred  to  above,  in  The  Caterpillar  (contained  in 
Poems,  1821),  addresses  the  "cousin  reptile"  as 

.     .     .     a  frozen  fellow  thou, 
This  sultry  day,  whole  bedded  in  a  muff. 

And  A  Summer's  Day  in  the  same  volume  has  several 
pretty  lines  :  — 

Soft  murmur  pebbly  rills  at  stilly  dawn; 

The  nestling  breezes  plume  their  dew-bent  wings.  .  .  . 

Gray  mists  now  drizzle  from  the  smoky  rocks.  .   .  . 


86        THE    LITERATURE    FROM    1789   TO    1815. 

Tottering  on  tripods,  milkmaids  soothe  the  kine, 
While  rains  a  white  shower  in  the  foaming  pail.  .  .  . 
Mourning  the  sun,  blue-bells  have  shut  their  cup; 
The  bat  wheels  round  and  round  on  leathern  wing; 
Reynard  creeps  out,  on  pilfer'd  eggs  to  sup; 
And  chiming  frogs  their  shrilly  concert  sing. 

It  may  be  said,  and  truly,  that  these  last  lines  are 
echoes  of  Warton  and  Collins  and  other  pioneers  in 
Romanticism  rather  than  of  Wordsworth.  And,  in 
general,  American  poets  in  the  years  now  under  con 
sideration  curiously  combine  the  old,  the  newer,  and 
the  newest  within  a  few  pages.  In  neighboring  poems 
if  not  in  the  same  poem,  Pope  jostles  Gray,  and  Gray 
jostles  Wordsworth,  the  poet  meanwhile  seeming  quite 
unconscious  that  divers  children  struggle  within  him  for 
mastery.  So  it  had  been  in  English  literature  not  long 
before. 

Much  of  the  verse  of  the  time  falls  into  the  fifth  and 
last  class  —  Political  and  Patriotic  Poems.  It  was  a 
period  of  intense  and  bitter  party-strife  between  Federal 
ists  and  Democrats.  Satire  in  verse  was  of  course  pressed 
into  service,  and  many  and  stout  were  the  blows  dealt  on 
either  side.  There  is  more  abuse  than  wit  in  the  mouths 
of  most  of  these  pugnacious  children  of  the  Muse 
Militant,  and  we  need  not  tarry  with  them  long.  The 
Democratiad  (1795)  and  The  Guillotina  (1796),  anony 
mous  Federalist  satires  on  the  Democrats  for  their 
opposition  to  Jay's  treaty,  are  keen,  bitter,  and  intensely 
partisan.  A  few  lines  from  the  first  will  give  a  sufficient 
taste  of  the  better  class  of  political  satire  of  the  day  :  — 

Far  to  the  south,  where  on  her  oozy  bed, 

Like  some  sick  sea-nymph  Charleston  bows  her  head, 


PATRIOTIC   SONGS    AND   ODES.  87 

Her  languid  sons  collect  in  solemn  state, 
To  join  their  sages  in  the  grand  debate. 
There  like  the  vision  in  the  sacred  book, 
Old  Gadsden's  dry  bones  in  a  whirlwind  shook, 
But  o'er  the  rest  chief  justice  Rutleclge  stands, 
Stamps  with  his  feet,  and  boxes  with  his  hands, 
And  'mid  the  applauses  of  the  gather'd  crowd, 
Shews  what  a  judge  can  do  by  bawling  loud. 

Among  other  of  the  more  celebrated  satires  of  the 
day  were  The  Political  Green-House,  by  RICHARD  ALSOP, 
LEMUEL  HOPKINS,  and  TIMOTHY  DVVIGHT,  a  review  of  the 
year  1798,  rapping  the  Democrats,  with  much  liveliness 
and  some  wit,  for  their  sympathy  with  the  French  Revo 
lution  ;  The  Porcupiniad  (1799),  by  MATHEW  CAREY,  a 
coarse  but  powerful  attack  upon  William  Cobbett,  an 
Englishman,  the  editor  of  Porcupine's  Gazette  and  an 
extreme  Federalist,  who,  like  many  Federalists,  was  sus 
pected  of  wishing  to  set  up  monarchy  in  the  United  States  ; 
and  Olio  (1801),  a  collection  of  satires  on  the  Federalists, 
particularly  Cobbett  and  Alexander  Hamilton,  the  latter 
being  raked  severely  for  his  confessed  personal  immorality. 
Poems  on  the  Embargo,  including  one  by  the  boy  Bryant, 
were  numerous. 

Another  division  of  poems  of  the  fifth  class  consists  of 
patriotic  songs,  odes,  elegies,  etc.  Washington's  death 
was  doubly  a  calamity  by  reason  of  the  flood  of  dull 
poems  which  it  occasioned.  Fourth  of  July  was  the  in 
spiration  of  many  noisy  odes,  tonly  less  dreadful  than  the 
modern  cannon-cracker  as  a  means  of  celebrating  the 
day.  There  was,  furthermore,  a  permanent  fund  of 
swelling  patriotic  pride,  which  on  sundry  occasions  ex 
ploded  in  more  or  less  metrical  dithyrambs,  crammed 


88        THE   LITERATURE   FROM    1789  TO    1815. 

with  much  silly  stuff,  such  as  these  lines  from  JONATHAN 
M.  SEWALL'S  Miscellaneous  Poems  (1801)  :  — 

Sage  Adams  for  wisdom,  with  Pallas  may  vie, 
And  Washington  equals  a  Jove  ! 

To  this  time,  however,  belong  two  songs  which, 
although  their  poetic  merit  is  small,  still  hold  a  place 
in  the  nation's  memory.  Hail  Columbia,  by  JOSEPH 
HOPKINSON,  was  first  sung  at  the  Chestnut  Street  theatre 
in  Philadelphia,  in  1798,  when  war  with  France  was 
threatening.  The  Star-Spangled  Banner,  by  FRANCIS 
SCOTT  KEY,  was  written  after  the  bombardment  of  Fort 
Me  Henry  in  1814. 

The  War  of  1812  called  forth  several  narrative  poems, 
in  which  the  patriotism  is  usually  more  abundant  than 
the  poetry.  The  Field  of  Orleans  (1816),  however,  by 
JOSEPH  HUTTON,  has  some  spirit  and  local  color  :  — 

Though  rifles  rattle,  peal  on  peal, 

And  skies  resound  with  crash  of  steel, 

Fair  Orleans,  thou  art  safe;  for,  lo  ! 

Jackson  prepared  to  meet  the  foe. 

His  darting  eye-beams  brightly  sweep 

Around  his  trench  of  cotton  heap.  .  .  . 

"  Haste,  Morgan,  haste  !  that  stream  be  cross'd, 

And  thence  the  iron  death  be  tossed ! 

Remember  how  in  times  retired, 

What  rage  that  other  chief  inspired, 

When  stern  upon  the  field  he  stood, 

Like  the  roused  lion  lapped  in  blood; 

And  let  each  boasting  Tarleton  see, 

Great  Morgan's  soul  renewed  in  thee  !  " 

A  more  remarkable  poem  is  The  Battle  of  Niagara 
(1818),  by  JOHN  NEAL  (1793-1876),  who  was  to  have  a 
long  and  creditable  though  rather  erratic  career  as  a 


NARRATIVE   POEMS.  89 

dramatist,  novelist,  and  writer  for  the  magazines.  The 
Battle  of  Niagara  is  evidently  the  work  of  a  young  man. 
It  contains  many  crude  lines ;  as  a  whole  is  obscure, 
tumultuous,  and  incoherent ;  and  the  influence  of  Byron, 
Moore,  and  Hunt  is  too  apparent  in  diction,  verse,  and 
general  manner.  But  in  spite  of  crudeness  and  lack  of 
high  originality,  the  thing  is  nevertheless  a  genuine  poem, 
full  of  energy,  vision,  and  sensuous  beauty.  Amidst  the 
tame  commonplaces  of  the  time  it  rises  up  like  a  brilliant 
though  imperfect  flower.  How  much  of  the  large,  savage 
beauty  of  the  virgin  American  solitudes  is  in  these  lines  :  — 

Peace  to  thy  bosom,  dark  Ontario ! 

Forever  thus,  may  thy  free  waters  flow, 

In  their  rude  loveliness !     Thy  lonely  shore 

Forever  echo  to  the  sullen  roar 

Of  thine  own  deep  !     Thy  cliffs  forever  ring 

With  calling  wild  men,  in  their  journeying — 

The  savage  chant  —  the  panther's  smothered  cry  — 

That  from  her  airy  height,  goes  thrilling  by ! 

Is  there  not  something  of  Shelley's  delicacy  and  of 
Keats's  fresh  and  luxurious  sense  for  beauty  in  this 
description  of  a  summer  night? 

It  is  that  hour  of  quiet  ecstacy, 

When  every  ruffling  wind,  that  passes  by 

The  sleeping  leaf,  makes  busiest  minstrelsy :   .  .  . 

When  dry  leaves  rustle,  and  the  whistling  song 

Of  keen-tuned  grass,  comes  piercingly  along : 

When  windy  pipes  are  heard  —  and  many  a  lute, 

Is  touched  amid  the  skies,  and  then  is  mute :  .  .  . 

When  all  the  garlands  of  the  precipice, 

Shedding  their  blossoms,  in  their  moonlight  bliss, 

Are  floating  loosely  on  the  eddying  air, 

And  breathing  out  their  fragrant  spirits  there  : 


90        THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1789   TO    1815. 

And  all  their  braided  tresses  in  their  height, 
Are  talking  faintly  to  the  evening  light. 

For  rush  and  vividness  the  following  account  of  a  night 
attack  by  a  troop  of  American  horse  equals  almost  any 
thing  in  Scott  or  Byron  :  — 

'T  is  a  helmeted  band  !  from  the  hills  they  descend 

Like  the  monarchs  of  storm,  when  the  forest  trees  bend. 

No  scimitars  swing  as  they  gallop  along : 

No  clattering  hoof  falls  sudden  and  strong : 

No  trumpet  is  filled,  and  no  bugle  is  blown  : 

No  banners  abroad  on  the  wind  are  thrown  :   .  .  . 

But  they  speed  like  coursers  whose  hoofs  are  shod, 

With  a  silent  shoe  from  the  loosen'd  sod.  .  .  . 

Away  they  have  gone  !  —  and  their  path  is  all  red, 

Hedged  in  by  two  lines  of  the  dying  and  dead ; 

By  bosoms  that  burst  unrevenged  in  the  strife  — 

By  swords  that  yet  shake  in  the  passing  of  life  — 

For  so  swift  had  that  pageant  of  darkness  sped  — 

So  like  a  trooping  of  cloud-mounted  dead  — 

That  the  flashing  reply,  of  the  foe  that  was  cleft, 

But  fell  on  the  shadows  those  troopers  had  left. 

Interest  in  the  Drama  rapidly  developed  with  the 
growth  of  cities.  Many  plays  were  written  or  adapted 
by  American  playwrights,  and  acted  in  New  York,  Phila 
delphia,  Baltimore,  Charleston,  and  Boston  —  for  even 
in  Puritan  Massachusetts  the  law  against  theatres  was 
repealed  in  I793-1  The  first  American  play  performed 
in  public  by  a  company  of  professional  actors  was  The 
Contrast,  by  ROYALL  TYLER  (1757-1826),  which  was 
acted  in  New  York  in  April,  1787.  It  is  a  prose 
comedy,  showing  the  superiority  of  the  honest  man  to 

1  Plays  had  been  given  in  Boston  shortly  before,  but  they  were 
advertised  as  "  Moral  Lectures." 


PROSE   FICTION.  91 

the  brilliant  rake ;  it  introduces  successfully  the  Yankee 
as  a  stage-character ;  and  the  dialogue  is  often  bright 
and  lively.  Tyler's  May  Day  was  acted  in  1787;  and 
A  Good  Spec.,  or  Land  in  the  Moon,  in  1797.  A 
more  prolific  playwright  was  WILLIAM  DUNLAP  (1766- 
1839).  His  The  Father  of  an  Only  Child,  acted  in 
New  York  in  1789,  was  followed  by  many  other  plays, 
some  on  American  subjects  and  others  based  on  or 
translated  from  English,  French,  and  German  romances 
and  plays.1  His  Leicester,  acted  in  1794,  was  (he  says) 
the  first  American  tragedy  produced  upon  the  stage. 
Dunlap  had  genuine  humor,  and  in  both  comedy  and 
tragedy  was  a  clever  playwright ;  but  his  comedies  lack 
literary  finish,  and  even  the  tragedies  have  little  poetical 
elevation.  Other  writers  for  the  stage  need  not  be  dis 
turbed  in  their  well-earned  repose.  Dramas  intended 
for  the  closet  only,  including  several  on  subjects  from 
American  history  or  life,  were  numerous ;  most  of  them, 
however,  are  scarcely  better  adapted  for  reading  than  for 
acting, -and  even  to  enumerate  their  titles  and  authors 
would  be  an  unprofitable  weariness  to  the  flesh. 

The  most  interesting  and  in  some  respects  the  most 
significant  part  of  the  literature  of  the  time  was  the  Prose 
Fiction.  A  tendency  toward  this  species  of  composition 
had  begun  to  show  itself  in  the  Revolutionary  period. 
The  transition  from  true  narrative  to  fictitious,  from  the 
descriptive  and  narrative  essay  to  the  moral  or  allegor 
ical  tale,  is  an  easy  one,  although  in  America  the  step 
was  delayed  by  the  Puritanic  distrust  of  novels,  which 
were  supposed  by  many  to  be  one  of  the  pleasant  devices 

1  Kotzebue  was  a  favorite  storehouse  for  American  playwrights  at 
this  time. 


92        THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1789  TO    1815. 

of  Satan.  It  has  ajready  been  seen  that  early  in  Revolu 
tionary  days  the  fable  or  tale  was  used  as  a  political 
engine.  The  same  line  was  continued  after  the  war  in 
The  Foresters,  by  JEREMY  BELKNAP,  which  narrates  the 
colonizing  of  America  and  the  revolt  of  the  colonies, 
under  the  guise  of  a  story  about  John  Bull,  his  forest, 
and  the  foresters  who  cleared  and  settled  it ;  the  whole 
is  carried  through  with  much  spirit  and  ingenuity,  and 
the  style  is  light.1  Our  novel-hating  ancestors  did  not 
object  to  thrilling  narrative,  if  only  it  were  true;  and  the 
harrowing  experiences  of  Mary  Rowlandson,  John  Wil 
liams,  and  others  were  well  known  in  the  homes  of  colonial 
New  England.  The  same  readers  would  have  seen  little 
difference,  as  to  truth,  in  The  History  of  Maria  Kittle, 
by  ANN  E.  BLEECKER,2  which  is  in  the  form  of  a  letter 
and  purports  to  be  true,  although  much  of  it  is  evidently 
fictitious.  It  narrates  with  no  little  vividness  the  calamities 
of  the  heroine  at  the  hands  of  savages  during  the  French 
and  Indian  War.  Although  the  subject  is  thus  entirely 
American,  the  style  shows  in  many  places  the  influence 
of  the  contemporary  European  school  of  sentiment :  — 

"  Dear  Mrs.  Willis,  shall  we  not  be  interested  likewise  in  your 
misfortunes?"  "Ah!  do,  (added  Mademoiselle  V.)  my  heart  is 
now  sweetly  tuned  to  melancholy.  I  love  to  indulge  these  divine 
sensibilities."  .  .  .  Mrs.  Willis  bowed.  She  dropt  a  few  tears; 
but  assuming  a  composed  look,  she  began :  —  "I  am  the  daughter 
of  a  poor  clergyman." 

1  The  Foresters  was  running  in  The  Columbian  Magazine  in  1788. 
In  1792  it  appeared  in  book  form.     The  second  edition,  1796,  brings 
the  narrative  down  to  Jay's  Treaty.     Some  of  the  names  are  ingenious 
and  amusing :  John  Codline  =  Massachusetts ;  Walter  Pipeweed  =  Vir 
ginia  (with  a  reference  at  first  to  Raleigh). 

2  It   is   contained    in    her   Posthumous    Works,    1793;    she   died   in 

1783- 


PROSE   FICTION.  93 

The  Puritan  reader  might  still  have  felt  safe  over  the 
pages  of  Mrs.  Bleecker's  The  Story  of  Henry  and  Anne 
(which  tells  of  the  love  and  misfortunes  of  German  peas 
ants  who  finally  find  a  paradise  in  America),  for  the 
reader  is  assured  that  it  is  "founded  on  fact."  JOHN 
B.  LINN'S  History  of  Elvira  and  Augustus  and  Aurelia 
(in  his  Miscellaneous  Works,  1795)  are  short  tales  of 
love  and  "sensibility"  with  some  moral  instruction  thrown 
in.  More  virile  and  amusing  is  HUGH  H.  BRACKENRIDGE'S 
Modern  Chivalry :  containing  the  Adventures  of  a  Cap 
tain,  and  Teague  Q }  Regan,  his  Servant  (1792—1806),  a 
vigorous  satire  on  American  life,  upon  the  model  (says 
the  author)  of  Cervantes,  Rabelais,  Le  Sage,  and  "espe 
cially  Swift."  The  first  volume  has  more  narrative  than 
the  other  three,  and  is  still  entertaining ;  the  satire  and 
humor  are  broad  (Teague  is  about  to  be  elected  to  the 
state  legislature  and  to  membership  in  a  philosophical 
society,  and  is  at  last  made  a  judge),  but  vigorous  and 
genuine.  The  portrait  of  Teague  as  an  emotional,  super 
stitious,  quick-witted,  impudent  Irishman  is  very  lifelike, 
although  the  Irish  brogue  is  poorly  imitated.  On  the 
same  border-line  of  pure  fiction  stand  ROYALL  TYLER'S 
Smollett-like  The  Algerine  Captive  (1799)  and  The 
Yankee  in  London  (1809),  and  Irving's  A  History  of 
New  York;  the  last  will  be  spoken  of  more  at  length 
on  a  later  page. 

But  novels  pure  and  simple  were  also  written  in 
America  before  the  end  of  the '  century,  although  there 
was  a  tendency  at  first  to  announce  them  as  "founded 
upon  fact."  SUSANNA  H.  ROWSON  wrote  her  first  novel, 
Victoria  (1786),  and  Charlotte  Temple  (1790),  her 
most  famous  work,  in  England ;  but  Trials  of  the 


94        THE   LITERATURE   FROM    1789   TO    1815. 

Human  Heart  (1795),  Reuben  and  Rachel  (1798), 
Sarah  (1802),  and  others  were  composed  in  America. 
Charlotte  Temple,  a  Tale  of  Trufh,1  a  story  of  innocence, 
love,  betrayal,  desertion,  and  death,  although  often  marred 
by  sentimentality  and  "  fine  writing,"  is  vivid  and  truly 
pathetic.  The  Coquette;  or,  the  History  of  Eliza  Whar- 
ton,  a  Novel  Founded  on  Fact  (1797),  by  HANNAH  W. 
FOSTER,  the  wife  of  a  Massachusetts  clergyman,  was 
also  very  popular  for  a  generation  or  more ;  its  moral  is 
similar  to  that  of  Charlotte  Temple,  the  style  is  old- 
fashioned  and  formal,  and  the  whole  is  closely  modelled 
upon  Richardson,  but  it  has,  nevertheless,  considerable 
animation  and  genuine  pathos.  Female  Quixotism 
(1808),  a  satirical  novel  byTABiTHA  G.  TENNEY,  wife  of  a 
New  Hampshire  physician,  was  popular  for  some  years. 

CHARLES  BROCKDEN  BROWN,  a  spirit  of  another  sort 
and  a  mightier,  the  first  American  who  adopted  letters  as 
his  sole  profession,  was  born  in  Philadelphia,  January  1 7, 
1771,  of  Quaker  parentage.  He  studied  law,  but  could 
not  bring  himself  to  the  practice  of  it,  and  for  several 
years  lived  a  desultory  life,  much  of  the  time  in  New 
York,  where,  among  the  members  of  "The  Friendly 
Club,"  he  found  congenial  society.  Wieland,  his  first 
published  romance,  came  out  in  1 798,  and  was  followed 
by  five  others  within  the  next  six  years.2  His  life  was 

1  It  is  said  that  the  heroine  was  Charlotte  Stanley,  daughter  of  an 
English  clergyman  ;  her  betrayer,  Colonel  John  Montressor  of  the  British 
army ;  and  that  she  now  lies  buried  in  the  graveyard  of  Trinity  Church, 
New  York. 

2  Ormond,  1799  ;  Arthur  Mervyn,  Part  I.,  1799,  Part  II.,  i8oc  ;  Edgar 
Huntly,  1799  ;   Clara  Howard,  1801 ;  Jane  Talbot,  1804.    An  unfinished 
romance  had  preceded  Wieland  ;  long  extracts  from  it  are  published  in 
Dunlap's  life  of  Brown.     A  second  novel,  Sky    Walk,  was  in  press  in 
1798,  when  the  death  of  the  publisher  stopped  further  progress ;  por 


CHARLES    BROCKDEN    BROWN.  95 

henceforth  a  busy  one.  He  edited  two  magazines  and 
an  annual  register,1  published  three  political  pamphlets,2 
and  labored  upon  a  great  geographical  and  an  historical 
work,3  besides  writing  many  other  pieces  in  verse  and 
prose.4  In  1804  he  married,  and  had  a  happy  home-life. 
But  his  health  had  always  been  delicate,  consumption 
seized  him,  and  he  died  on  February  22,  1810. 

Brown  had  a  speculative,  analytic  mind ;  his  tempera 
ment  was  gloomy,  if  not  morbid  ;  he  wrote  at  a  time  when 
the  school  of  mystery  and  terror  was  dominant  in  English 
fiction ;  and  he  early  fell  under  the  influence  of  William 
Godwin,  the  author  of  Political  Justice,  a  book  of  radical 
and  powerful  abstract  reasoning,  and  of  Caleb  Williams, 
a  novel  of  exciting  incident  and  keen  analysis  of  abnormal 
mental  states.  These  qualities  and  influences,  together 
with  his  American  environment  and  his  own  genius, 
determined  the  nature  of  his  novels.  They  are  all 
studies  in  morbid  psychology,  with  frequently  a  back 
ground  of  bold  speculation  upon  moral  and  religious 
problems ;  the  best  of  them  contain  thrilling  events, 
sometimes  seemingly  supernatural  but  (in  harmony  with 
Brown's  rationalistic  temper)  finally  explained  by  natural 
causes ;  they  are  given  an  American  setting ;  and  they  all 

tions  of  the  novel,  says  Dunlap,  were  utilized  in  Edgar  Huntly.  Brown's 
first  publication  was  Alcuin,  a  Dialogue  on  the  Rights  of  Women,  1797. 

1  The  Monthly  Magazine  and  American  Review,  New  York,  1799- 
1800.      Ihe  Literary  Magazine  and  American  Register,  Philadelphia, 
1803-1808.      The  American  Register,  Philadelphia,  1806-1810. 

2  Pamphlets  in  favor  of  the  Louisiana  purchase  (1803),  in  favor  of  a 
treaty  with  England  which  President  Jefferson  hadjust  rejected  (1807  ?), 
and  against  the  Embargo  (1809). 

3  General  Geography  and  Rome  during  the  Age  of  the  Antonines. 

4  A  History  of  Carsol,  apparently  a  Utopian  sketch.     Memoirs  of 
Cat-win.     Afcywirs  of  Stephen  Culvert.      Thessalonica,  a  Roman  Story. 
These  writings,  with  others,  are  printed  in  Dunlap's  life  of  Brown. 


96       THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1789   TO    1815. 

leave  the  impression  of  mingled  crudeness  and  power. 
They  are,  however,  of  very  unequal  merit.  A  brief  out 
line  of  the  main  plot  will  give  some  idea  of  the  merits 
and  defects  of  each.  In  Clara  Howard,  the  title-char 
acter  and  Philip  Stanley,  lovers,  struggle  with  their  sense 
of  duty  to  Mary  Wilmot,  to  whom  Philip  was  formerly 
betrothed  although  he  did  not  love  her ;  she  has  mysteri 
ously  disappeared,  and,  urged  on  by  Clara,  he  sets  out  to 
find  her .;  the  lovers  suffer  many  vacillations  of  mind  ;  the 
Gordian  knot  is  finally  cut  by  the  marriage  of  the  super 
fluous  Mary  to  another.  In  Jane  Talbot,  Jane,  a  widow, 
loves  Henry  Golden ;  but  her  foster-mother,  the  rich 
Mrs.  Fielding,  objects  to  the  marriage  because  of  Col- 
den's  heresy  and  former  immorality  ;  Jane  now  gives  her 
lover  up  and  now  calls  him  back ;  he  finally  goes  away 
to  avoid  beggaring  her ;  is  shipwrecked  ;  returns,  con 
veniently  cured  of  his  scepticism,  finds  Mrs.  Fielding 
conveniently  dead,  and  marries  Jane.  Ormond  has  more 
action,  and  the  title-character  is  a  more  interesting  study, 
although  he  is  too  obviously  modelled  upon  Falkland  in 
Caleb  Williams.  Constantia  Dudley,  reduced  to  dire 
poverty,  is  aided  by  Ormond,  a  man  of  vast  wealth,  power 
ful  mind,  and  immoral  principles  (although  at  first  he 
seems  a  miracle  of  benevolence),  who  has  mysterious 
means  of  learning  the  secrets  of  others  and  executing  his 
purposes  ;  he  seeks  Constantia  in  love  but  not  in  marriage  ; 
finding  her  invincible,  assaults  her  in  a  lonely  house,  and 
is  slain  by  her  hand.  In  the  First  Part  of  Arthur  Mervyn, 
the  hero  is  secretary  to  Welbeck,  a  weaker  Ormond  ;  Wei- 
beck  kills  Watson  (whose  sister  he  has  wronged)  in  a 
duel  in  Welbeck's  house,  and  Mervyn  helps  him  bury  the 
body  in  the  cellar ;  Welbeck  then  flees,  and  Mervyn  finds 


CHARLES    BROCKDEN    BROWN.  97 

work  on  a  farm  near  Philadelphia  ;  the  yellow  fever  breaks 
out  in  the  city ;  Mervyn,  venturing  in  to  rescue  a  friend, 
catches  the  disease,  and  goes  to  Welbeck's  deserted 
house  to  escape  the  horrible  hospital ;  there  he  finds 
Welbeck,  who  quarrels  with  him  over  a  large  sum  of 
stolen  money,  and,  baffled  and  furious,  leaves  him  to 
die.  The  Second  Part  is  largely  filled  with  the  love- 
affairs  of  Mervyn,  who,  forsaking  a  young  girl  devotedly 
attached  to  him,  marries  a  Jewish  widow,  six  years  his 
senior ;  the  whole  is  bizarre.  Edgar  Huntly  is  a  study 
of  sleep-walking  and  madness ;  the  scene  is  western 
Pennsylvania.  Huntly'S  friend  Waldegrave  has  been 
murdered,  and  Huntly  accuses  Clithero,  a  newly  come 
farm-hand  ;  Clithero  denies  the  charge,  and  explains  his 
strange  actions  by  his  remorse  for  having  slain  his  bene 
factress,  Mrs.  Lorimer,  in  temporary  madness,  a  deed 
which  had  compelled  him  to  flee  to  America  ;  he  then  re 
treats  to  a  neighboring  mountainous  tract,  whither  Huntly 
takes  him  food.  One  of  the  irrelevant  episodes  which 
often  mar  Brown's  plots  is  here  introduced  :  a  young  man 
suddenly  appears,  and  by  a  long  tale  makes  out  a  good 
claim  to  the  small  fortune  which  Waldegrave,  to  the 
surprise  of  all,  had  been  found  to  have  to  his  credit  in 
the  bank ;  the  young  man  goes  away  for  the  present,  and 
nothing  comes  of  the  incident.1  The  most  exciting  part 
of  the  story  now  begins.  Huntly,  who  (unknown  to 
himself)  is  a  sleep-walker,  wakes  up  one  night  to  find 
himself  lying  at  the  bottom  of  a  pit  in  a  cave,  covered 
with  bruises  and  half-famished ;  climbing  out  of  the  pit, 
he  sees  the  eyes  of  a  cougar  glaring  through  the  pitchy 
darkness ;  he  hurls  his  tomahawk,  splits  the  cougar's 

1  The  same  situation  is  used  again  in  Clara  Howard, 
H 


98        THE    LITERATURE    FROM    1789   TO    1815. 

skull,  and  devours  its  flesh  and  blood ;  crawling  toward 
the  mouth  of  the  cave,  he  discovers  there  five  Indians 
(four  of  whom  are  sleeping  around  a  fire)  and  a  captive 
white  girl ;  he  brains  the  sentinel,  and  escapes  with  the 
captive  to  a  log  hut ;  here,  finding  firearms,  he  fights 
and  slays  the  three  savages  who  pursued.  On  his  way 
home  he  meets  with  Sarsefield,  his  former  teacher,  who 
informs  him  that  Mrs.  Lorimer  is  not  dead ;  Huntly 
tells  Clithero,  thinking  to  cure  his  remorse ;  but  the 
latter,  who  is  a  confirmed  madman,  again  attempts  her 
life,  is  captured,  and  on  the  way  to  confinement  leaps 
overboard  and  is  drowned.  Wieland  is  a  study  of  in 
herited  religious  mania  induced  by  ventriloquism.  Wie- 
land's  father,  a  religious  eccentric,  had  died  mysteriously  of 
what  seems  to  be  electricity  or  spontaneous  combustion ; 
with  the  advent  of  the  mysterious  and  powerful  Carwin, 
voices  are  heard  in  the  air  giving  commands  and  warnings, 
which  Wieland  takes  to  be  supernatural  and  broods  over ; 
finally  he  hears  a  heavenly  voice  commanding  him  to 
sacrifice  to  God  his  wife  and  children ;  this  he  does,  and, 
raving  mad  but  exalted  by  a  sense  of  moral  sublimity,  is 
fettered  in  a  maniac's  cell ;  from  this  he  escapes,  and  is 
about  to  kill  his  sister  also,  when  Carwin  undeceives  him 
by  again  exercising  his  ventriloquial  power,  and  the  poor 
deluded  man  dies  of  spiritual  collapse. 

Even  from  these  imperfect  outlines  it  can  be  seen  that 
Brown's  plots  are,  at  their  best,  unique  and  powerful. 
But  the  total  effect  is  injured  by  irrelevant  episodes  and 
blind  alleys,  by  stories  within  stories  to  confusion  and 
lessening  of  interest,  by  the  improbabilities  and  clumsy 
devices  upon  which  the  action  often  turns,  and  by  dawdling 
conclusions  after  a  striking  climax.  Some  of  these  defects 


CHARLES   BROCKDEN    BROWN.  99 

were  due  to  haste,  it  being  Brown's  custom  to  begin  to 
print  before  he  had  finished  writing  or  had  even  thought 
his  story  through.  His  device  of  telling  the  story  by 
letters,  or  by  a  long  narrative  written  by  one  of  the 
characters  to  a  friend,  although  it  is  easily  accounted  for 
by  the  example  of  some  of  his  predecessors  in  English 
fiction,  is  nevertheless  a  clumsy  method  in  tales  of  ex 
citing  incident.  His  characters  are  boldly  and  clearly 
conceived  in  their  main  outlines  but  are  not  always  ade 
quately  motived ;  Carwin,  for  instance,  has  no  sufficient 
motive  for  his  reckless  deeds,  and  there  is  no  apparent 
cause  for  the  sudden  madness  of  Clithero.  Furthermore, 
Brown's  study  of  mind  and  motive  is  not  subtle  or  curious 
or  natural  enough  to  arouse  much  interest  apart  from  ex 
citing  action  :  this  is  the  cause  of  the  inferiority  of  Jane 
Talbot  and  Clara  Howard —  the  mental  situation  is  unin 
teresting  and  the  action  is  feeble ;  but  even  in  his  study  of 
more  remarkable  rninds,  as  Ormond's  or  Carwin's,  the 
interest  is  chiefly  in  the  horrible  resultant  events.  Brown's 
habit,  borrowed  from  Caleb  Williams,  of  making  the  nar 
rator  explain  his  mental  movements  minutely  becomes 
tiresome,  particularly  as  the  thoughts  and  counter- 
thoughts  detailed  are  often  of  the  most  obvious  sort. 
The  style,  also,  is  a  combination  of  crudeness  and  power. 
It  is  often  stiff  and  sometimes  ludicrously  stilted ; a  but 
everywhere  it  has  strength ;  and  in  passages  of  exciting 
description  and  narration  it  rises  to  a  very  high  degree  of 
power.  In  these  scenes  of  horror  —  the  maniac  Wie- 

1  In  Edgar  Huntly  occur  these  expressions  within  a  few  pages: 
"The  channel  [of  the  river]  .  .  .  was  encumbered  with  asperities;" 
"  the  vociferation  of  a  savage ;  "  "  this  action  [the  levelling  of  a  gun 
at  his  head]  was  sufficiently  conformable  to  my  prognostics."  Brown's 
plentiful  logic  and  scant  sense  of  humor  sometimes  led  him,  in  his 


TOO      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1789   TO    1815. 

land  about  to  kill  his  sister;  Huntly  groping  about  in 
the  black  pit ;  the  midnight  burial  of  Watson  in  the  cellar  ; 
Ormond's  deliberate  and  gloating  assault  upon  his  trem 
bling  victim  in  the  lonely  house  ;  the  loathsome  scenes  in 
the  pestilence-stricken  city  —  Brown  is  in  his  element, 
and  by  them  he  has  made  a  permanent  contribution  to 
the  literature  of  terror.  Inferior  to  Hawthorne  in  subtle 
spiritual  suggestiveness,  to  Poe  in  brilliancy,  intensity,  and 
enveloping  atmosphere  of  poetic  gloom,  he  is  perhaps 
superior  to  them  and  to  the  whole  contemporary  English 
school  of  terror  in  Defoe-like  sense  of  reality  and  in 
sheer  mass  of  overwhelming  horror.1  How  far  his 
work  is  distinctively  American  is  a  question  of  minor 
consequence.  In  his  characters  is  nothing  essentially 
American ;  and  although  the  main  action  is  always  in 
this  country,  the  setting  is  usually  very  faint.  The 
pictures  of  yellow-fever  scenes  in  Arthur  Mervyn  and 
Ormond  form  indeed  a  powerful  background  and  are 
drawn  from  personal  knowledge;2  but  yellow  fever, 

analysis  of  mental  movements,  to  announce  the  most  obvious  facts  with 
pompous  solemnity;  thus  the  beautiful  Constantia  Dudley,  thinking  if 
she  can't  make  a  little  money  by  sewing,  is  made  to  affirm  as  a  logical 
preliminary,  "  Clothing  is  one  of  the  necessaries  of  human  existence." 
But  in  the  later  novels  the  style  is  somewhat  simpler  and  more  fluent ; 
and  Thessalonica,  a  Roman  Tale,  apparently  a  late  work,  shows  marked 
improvement  in  structure  also,  having  excellent  unity,  proportions,  and 
climax,  and  suggests  that  if  Brown  had  lived  he  might  have  become  a 
brilliant  writer  of  historical  fiction  of  the  spectacular  sort. 

1  Brown's  fiction  found  some  readers  in   England.     Several   of  his 
novels  were  republished  there,  and  Jane   Talbot  was  published  there 
first.     "  Brown's  [best]  four  novels,"  says  Peacock,  "  Schiller's  Robbers, 
and  Goethe's  Faust,  were,  of  all  the  works  with  which  he  was  familiar, 
those  which  took  the  deepest  root  in  Shelley's  mind."  —  Dowden's  life  of 
Shelley,  Vol.  1.,  p.  472. 

2  Brown  was  in  New  York  while  the  fever  raged  there  in  1798 ;  one  of 
his  dearest  friends,  a  physician,  died  of  it;  and  the  novelist  himself  ex 
perienced  the  earlier  stages  of  the  disease. 


CHARLES    BROCKDEN    BROWN. 


101 


fortunately,  is  not  a  permanent  and  essential  feature'  of 
American  life.  The  one  instance  in  which  Brown  has 
emphasized  material  essentially  American  is  in  Edgar 
Huntly,  where  the  descriptions  of  Indian  warfare  are  at 
least  equal  to  Cooper's  in  vividness,  and  superior  to  them 
in  ugly  realism.  But  the  novel  of  mystery  and  terror, 
unlike  the  novel  of  character  or  manners,  does  not  much 
depend  for  its  peculiar  effects  upon  the  characteristics  of 
the  time  and  place  where  it  is  brought  forth ;  it  moves  in 
a  semi-supernatural  world  of  its  own,  gathering  its  mate 
rials  wherever  it  can  find  them  ;  and  the  novels  of  Brown 
are  quite  as  much  American  as  The  Castle  of  Otranto, 
The  Mysteries  of  Udolpho,  and  The  Monk  are  English. 


2.    THE  GOLDEN  AGE  OF  AMERICAN  LITERATURE 

(1815-1870). 

HISTORICAL  EVENTS. 


Monroe's     administration,     1817- 

1825. 
Wars  with  Seminole  Indians,  1817, 

1835- 
First  steamboat  crosses  the  Atlantic, 

1819. 

Acquisition  of  Florida,  1819. 
Missouri  Compromise,  1820. 
Monroe  Doctrine  announced,  1823. 
Higher  protective  tariff,  1824. 
Erie  Canal  finished,  1825. 
J.  Q.  Adams's  administration,  1825- 

1829. 

Temperance  reform  begun,  1826. 
Jackson's    administrations,     1829- 

1837- 

First  steam   railroad  in  America, 
1830. 


Garrison  starts  The  Liberator  (Ab 
olitionist),  1831. 

South  Carolina  nullifies  the  new 
tariff,  1832. 

McCormick's  reaper  invented, 
1834. 

Formation  of  Whig  party,  1834. 

Use  of  hard  coal  becomes  com 
mon,  1835. 

Van  Buren's  administration,  1837- 
1841. 

Business  panic,  1837. 

Harrison  and  Tyler's  administra 
tion,  1841-1845. 

Ashburton  Treatv  settles  north 
eastern  boundary,  1842. 

First  electric  telegraph  in  America, 
1844. 


102.     THE.  .LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO'  1870. 


Annexation  of  T  exas,  1845. 

Folk's  administration,  1845-1849. 

Northwestern,  poundary  settled  by 
treaty,  1846. 

War  with  Mexico,  1846-1847. 

Discovery  o/  gold  in  California, 
1848. 

Mormons  settle  in  Utah,  1848. 

Taylor  and  Fillmore's  administra 
tion,  1849-1853. 

Fugitive  Slave  Law,  1850. 

Pierce's  administration,  1853-1857. 

Acquisition  of  Arizona  and  New 
Mexico,  1848-1853. 

Kansas-Nebraska  Bill,  1854. 


Formation    of    Republican    party, 

1854. 
Buchanan's   administration,   1857- 

1861. 

Business  panic,  1857. 
First  Atlantic  cable,  1858. 
Lincoln's     administration,     1861- 

1865.  I 

Civil  Wa/,  1861-1865. 
Lincoln  assassinated,  1865. 
Johnson's     administration,     1865- 

1869.    - 

Pacific  Railroad  completed,  1869. 
Reconstruction  of.  Southern  States, 

1865-1870. 


LITERATURE  IN  ENGLAND. 


Shelley's  poems,  1813-1824. 
Scott's  novels,  1814-1831. 
Byron's  later  poems,  1816-1824. 
Coleridge's  later  prose  and  poetryi 

1816-1840. 

Moore's  later  poems,  1817-1828. 
Keats's  poems,  1817-1820. 
Hazlitt's  essays,  1817-1825. 
Hallam's  Middle  Ages,  1818. 
Crabbe's  Tales  of  the  Hall,  1819. 
Wordsworth's   later  poems,   1819- 

1850. 

Lamb's  essays,  1820-1833. 
De  Quincey's  works,  1821-1861. 
Landor's   prose   and  later  poetry, 

1824-1853. 

Carlyle's  works,  1824-1881. 
Macaulay's  works,  1825-1860. 
Mrs.  Browning's  poems,  1826-1862. 
Poems  by  Tennyson,  1827-1869. 
J.  S.  Mill's  works,  1829-1874. 
Poems  by  Robert  Browning,  1833- 

1868. 


Newman's  works,  1833-1870. 
Dickens's  works,  1834-1870. 
Thackeray's  works,  1837-1867. 
Works  by  Ruskin,  1839-1870. 
"  George  Eliot's  "  works,  1846-1883. 
Crete's   History  of    Greece,    1846- 

1856. 
Arnold's  poems,  1848-1858  ;  essays, 

1861-1888. 
Merivale's  History  of  the  Romans, 

1850-1862. 
Froude's  History  of  England,  1856- 

1869. 

William  Morris's  poems,  1858-1887. 
Darwin's  Origin  of  Species,  1859. 
Poems  by  Swinburne,  1861-1870. 
Spencer's  First  Principles,  1862. 
Essays  by  Huxley,  1863-1870. 
Gardiner's    History    of    lingland, 

1863-1882. 
Freeman's  History  of  the  Norman 

Conquest,  1867-1876. 


GENERAL   CONDITIONS.  103 

The  half-century  from  the  close  of  the  second  war  with 
England  to  the  end  of  the  Civil  War  and  the  reconstruc 
tion  of  the  seceding  states,  was  the  most  momentous 
period  in  the  history  of  the  Union.  During  these  years 
the  Young  Republic  became  the  Great  Republic,  the 
Giant  of  the  West.  .  It  was  a  time  of  marvellous  national 
growth,  of  intellectual  and  moral  quickening,  of  mighty 
conflicts  in  the  forum  and  on  the  field  of  battle ;  and  it 
was  also  the  Golden  Age  of  American  literature. 

The  increase  in  territory  and  population  was  very 
great,  and,  in  its  effects  upon  American  life,  very  signifi 
cant.  The  seven  millions  of  1810  had  become  twenty- 
three  millions  in  1850  and  thirty-eight  millions  in  1870. 
By  the  admission  of  Texas,  and  the  war  with  Mexico,  the 
vast  Southwest  was  added  to  the  national  domain,  which 
now  embraced  three  million  square  miles,  an  area  equal  to 
more  than  three-fourths  of  all  Europe ;  while  the  steady 
westward  progress  of  the  long  wagon-trains  of  the  pioneer 
increased  the  settled  area  from  407,945  square  miles  in 
1810  to  1,194,754  in  1860.  The  poor  of  the  Old  World 
flocked  to  this  New  World  refuge  in  rapidly  augmenting 
numbers,  more  than  five  millions  coming  between  the 
years  1820  and  1860.  This  great  increase  in  the  total 
population  was  accompanied  by  a  like  increase  in  town 
and  city  life.  In  1800  the  dwellers  in  cities  of  8000  or 
more  inhabitants  were  only  four  per  cent  of  the  whole 
population,  and  in  1820  only  five  per  cent ;  but  in  1850  the 
percentage  had  risen  to  twelve,  and  in  1860  to  sixteen. 

But  alongside  this  unparalleled  national  growth  there 
loomed  up,  bigger  and  blacker  with  every  decade,  a  terri 
ble  danger.  Slavery  in  the  North,  having  proved  unprofit 
able,  had  gradually  died  out,  and  the  Northern  conscience 


io4      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

thereupon  began  to  wax  tender  about  the  moral  wrongs 
of  that  system  of  labor.  In  the  South,  on  the  contrary, 
where  the  evils  of  slavery  had  once  been  freely  acknowl 
edged,  a  change  of  sentiment  set  in.  The  growing  of 
cotton,  rice,  and  sugar-cane  had  become  the  great  indus 
tries  ; 1  slave-labor  was  deemed  essential  in  them  ;  and  so 
there  developed  a  jealous  regard  for  "  the  peculiar  insti 
tution."  In  particular,  the  South  naturally  resented  all 
outside  interference  with  what  it  regarded  as  wholly  its 
own  affair,  this  feeling  being  shared  even  by  Southerners 
who  earnestly  desired  reform.  The  question  of  the  exten 
sion  of  slavery  into,  the  new  states  gave  rise  to  a  prolonged 
and  bitter  struggle ;  the  abolitionists  poured  oil  on  the 
flames  by  demanding  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  states 
where  it  already  existed ;  compromise  after  compromise 
only  delayed  "  the  irrepressible  conflict "  ;  until  at  last 
four  years  of  bloody  fratricidal  war  bought  emancipation 
and  national  unity  at  a  fearful  cost,  especially  to  the 
torn  and  bleeding  South,  with  whose  sufferings,  not  yet 
wholly  past,  the  younger  generation  at  the  North  can 
sympathize  as  their  fathers  in  the  stress  of  battle  and  the 
flush  of  victory  could  not.  The  war  was  a  baptism  of  fire 
unto  a  higher  life  for  the  whole  nation  ;  but  the  immedi 
ate  effect  was  hostile  to  literature  and  the  fine  arts,  which 
have  always  flourished  best  in  the  soil  of  peace.  The 
fierce  political  agitation  that  preceded  the  war  was  also 
unfavorable  to  the  development  of  literature  except  in 
the  one  domain  of  oratory,  which  on  the  platform  and  in 


1  In  1850  the  cotton  crop  was  valued  at  $105,600,000;  sugar  at 
$12,396,150;  rice  at  $3,000,000.  The  slave  population,  which  in  1790 
was  only  697,681  for  the  whole  country,  in  1820  had  risen  to  1,538,022, 
and  in  1850  to  3,204,313. 


RAPID    NATIONAL  GROWTH.  105 

Congress  equalled  and  in  some  respects   surpassed  the 
oratory  of  the  Revolutionary  period. 

The  other  great  fact  of  the  times  —  the  rapid  national 
growth  —  likewise  retarded  the  progress  of  art  in  Amer 
ica.  The  enormous  task  of  settling  the  great  West 
absorbed  energy  and  talent  which  might  otherwise  have 
gone  to  the  enriching  of  culture  in  regions  already  settled. 
As  it  was,  the  necessarily  crude  civilization  in  the  new 
states  and  territories  lowered  the  level  of  refinement  in 
the  country  as  a  whole  and  by  its  effect  upon  the  national 
ideal  reacted  unfavorably  even  upon  life  in  the  older 
states.  The  case  was  made  worse  by  wholesale  immigra 
tion.  Europe  poured  into  us  her  ignorance  and  poverty, 
and  then  sneered  at  our  lack  of  culture.  The  hard- 
handed  millions  that  came  to  America  from  many  lands 
earned  a  welcome  by  their  laborious  toil  in  helping  to 
develop  the  physical  resources  of  a  new  continent,  but 
on  the  whole  they  were  a  drag  upon  the  intellectual, 
moral,  and  aesthetic  life  of  the  nation.  Furthermore,  the 
rapid  growth  of  the  country,  a  growth  too  rapid  for  per 
fect  health,  favored  the  development  of  a  cheap  and 
vulgar  national  pride.  All  foreign  critics  of  American 
life  at  this  period  note  the  prevalence  of  an  ill-bred 
boastfulness  which  swallowed  greedily  the  grossest  flattery 
and  showed  undue  sensitiveness  to  European  and  espe 
cially  to  English  censure.  The  almost  universal  absorption 
in  the  pursuit  of  wealth  was  still  another  hinderance  to 
the  finer  spirituality.  Such  materialism  was  natural 
enough,  it  was  even  necessary,  in  the  stage  which  the 
country  had  then  reached.  Freedom,  equality  of  rights, 
opportunities  open  to  him  who  had  the  vigor  to  enter,  all 
stimulated  individual  enterprise  ;  in  a  land  without  privi- 


106      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

leged  classes  or  fixed  social  castes,  wealth  was  a  key  not 
only  to  comfort  but  to  social  and  often  to  political  distinc 
tion  ;  and  a  new  and  rapidly  growing  country,  in  which 
business  was  brisk  and  the  powerful  agencies  of  modern 
civilization  could  be  applied  on  a  large  scale,  afforded 
tempting  chances  for  the  making  of  fortunes  both  small 
and  great.  In  the  East,  under  the  stimulus  of  higher 
tariffs,  manufactures  developed  rapidly  and  were  very 
profitable ;  on  river  and  lake  and  prairie,  cities  sprang 
up  like  mushrooms ;  the  discovery  of  gold  and  other 
metals  in  the  West  begot  a  frenzy  in  many  brains ;  the 
locomotive  tunnelled  the  mountain  or  scaled  its  side, 
blazed  a  path  through  vast  woods  still  the  haunt  of  deer, 
flashed  across  endless  plains  where  roamed  the  Indian 
and  the  buffalo,  and  returned  bringing  great  wealth  to 
the  hands  that  sent  it  forth.1  It  was  no  wonder  that 
America  was  fascinated  with  the  game  of  Mammon,  and 
on  the  whole  it  was  well  that  it  should  be  for  a  time. 
"Great,  intelligent,  sensual,  and  avaricious  America," 
wrote  Emerson  in  i84i.2  But  it  was  sensual  and  ava 
ricious  largely  because  it  was  physically  great;  and  it 
was  to  be  spiritually  great  in  coming  years  partly  because 
it  was  sensual  and  avaricious  for  the  present,  laying  with 
passionate  energy  the  material  foundations  of  a  colossal 
nation.  Yet  the  immediate  effect  was  to  keep  the  na 
tional  fibre  comparatively  coarse  and  to  delay  the  time 
when  the  genius  of  America  should  find  adequate  ex 
pression  in  terms  of  beauty. 

1  In  1840  Chicago  was  a  village  of  4479  inhabitants;  in  1860  it  had  a 
population  of  112,172.     In  1830  there  were  23  miles  of  railroad  in  the 
United  States ;  in  1860  there  were  30,600  miles,  only  1547  less  than  in 
all  Europe. 

2  Letter  to  Carlyle,  July  31. 


LEAVENING   FORCES.  107 

But  the  picture  has  a  brighter  side.  Many  tendencies 
of  the  time  were  conducive  to  a  much  higher  develop 
ment  of  literature  and  art  than  had  before  been  possible 
in  the  New  World.  The  consciousness  of  national  unity 
and  greatness  was  immensely  furthered  by  the  struggle 
against  secession,  by  the  building  of  railroads  binding 
East  to  West,  and  North  to  South,  and  by  the  enormous 
increase  in  population  and  wealth,  although  the  full  liter 
ary  fruit  from  the  ever-fruitful  tree  of  a  just  and  noble 
national  pride  is  yet  to  be  gathered.  The  mass  of  the 
people  impressed  European  travellers  as  being  in  a  high 
degree  religious,  moral,  and  intelligent  —  qualities  favor 
able  to  literary  greatness  as  to  greatness  of  any  kind. 
In  the  South,  education  for  white  children  was  on  the 
mend ;  and  the  settlers  of  the  West  carried  with  them 
Bible  and  Spelling-book.  Innumerable  newspapers  cul 
tivated  the  habit  of  reading,  and  disseminated  a  wide 
spread  if  superficial  intelligence.1  Magazines,  some  of 
high  intellectual  and  literary  merit,  were  now  numerous. 
The  lyceum  and  the  popular  lecture  promoted  a  genuine 
if  rather  provincial  intellectual  quickening.  Colleges 
were  multiplying,  and  the  older  ones  were  becoming  cen- 

1  In   1840  there  were   1631   newspapers,   with  an  annual  issue  of 
195,838,671  copies ;    in  1860  there  were  4501,  with  an  annual  issue  of 
927,951,548  copies. 

2  Some  of  the  most  noteworthy  were  these :    77?^  North  American 
Review,    1815-;     The   New    York   Alirror,    1823-1842;     The    Southern 
Literary  Gazette,  1825;    The  American  Quarterly  Review,  Philadelphia, 
1827-1837;    The    Southern   Review,    1828-1832;    The    Western  Review, 
1828-1830;     The  New  England  Magazine,  1831-1835;     The  Knicker 
bocker,  1833-1860;     The   Western  Monthly  Magazine,   1833-1836;     The 
Southern  Literary  Messenger,  Richmond,  1834-1864;   Graharis  Maga 
zine,  Philadelphia,  1840-1850;    The  Southern  Quarterly  Review,  1842- 
1852;    Harpers  Monthly,   1850-;   Putnam's  Monthly,  New  York,  1853- 
1857,  1867-1869  ;   The  Atlantic  Monthly,  1857- 


io8      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

tres  of  a  riper  scholarship  and  a  richer  culture.  Public 
libraries  and  museums  of  art  were  founded.  Wealth, 
with  its  attendant  leisure  and  foreign  travel,  favored  the 
growth  of  a  love  for  beauty  and  the  things  of  the  intellect. 
A  distinctively  American  school  of  landscape-painting 
began  with  Cole,  Doughty,  and  others,  who  handled 
successfully  the  scenery  of  the  Hudson  and  our  brilliant 
autumnal  effects ; l  and  Trumbull's  pictures  in  the  Capi 
tol,  on  subjects  from  American  history,  were  at  least 
a  respectable  beginning  in  a  difficult  branch  of  the 
painter's  art.  American  sculpture  of  high  merit  came 
from  the  chisels  of  Greenough,  Powers,  Story,  and  others. 
The  appreciation  of  music,  if  not  the  creation  of  it,  grew 
in  the  United  States  with  the  century.  Societies  for  the 
rendering  of  oratorios  were  early  organized  in  most  of 
the  principal  cities,  and  the  Boston  Academy  of  Music 
was  established  in  1833  ;  English  opera  companies  found 
a  welcome  in  New  Orleans  in  1820,  in  New  York  in 
1821  ;  an  Italian  opera  was  first  given  in  1825,  in  the 
latter  city ;  and  Jenny  Lind,  in  her  tour  a  generation  later, 
was  everywhere  received  with  rapturous  enthusiasm. 

In  short,  the  conditions  of  American  life  in  New  Eng 
land,  the  Middle  States,  and  parts  of  the  South,  were  now 
more  favorable  than  ever  before  for  the  production  of  a 
large  body  of  good  literature ;  and  such  a  literature  was 
forthcoming.  In  addition  to  the  general  factors  already 
touched  upon,  there  were  special  reasons  why  American 
writers  were  now  better  able  to  clothe  their  thoughts  in 
that  perfection  of  form  upon  which  so  much  of  the  pleas 
ure  and  even  of  the  value  of  literature  depends.  For 

1  The  school  arose  about  the  year  1825,  and  hence  was  nearly  con 
temporary  with  the  new  nature  poetry  of  Bryant. 


LEAVENING   FORCES.  109 

one  thing,  the  increase  in  the  size  of  the  reading  public, 
with  the  attendant  increase  in  the  number  and  circulation 
of  periodicals  and  the  opportunity  for  large  sales  of  books, 
now  made  it  possible  for  an  author  to  live  by  his  pen, 
with  the  natural  result  that  men  of  talent  and  genius  were 
able  to  devote  themselves  to  the  art  of  literature  and  to 
attain  greater  skill  in  the  practice  of  it.1  Again,  not  only 
was  there  more  culture  at  home,  but  the  packet  and  the 
steamship,  by  making  ocean  travel  quicker  and  more  com 
fortable,  brought  the  culture  of  the  Old  World  nearer  to 
the  New  ;  so  that,  in  place  of  slavish  imitation  of  the  letter 
of  foreign  models,  an  intelligent  absorption  and  free  repro 
duction  of  their  spirit  was  easily  possible  to  the  American 
writer  of  verse  or  prose,  a  more  genuine  culture  and  a 
more  genuine  independence  going  hand  in  hand.  With 
the  widening  of  American  scholarship  there  came,  fur 
thermore,  a  broadening  of  the  literary  forces  which  played 
upon  our  literature.  The  thought  and  literature  of  Eng 
land  had  been  for  long  the  great  external  influence  upon 
the  thought  and  literature  of  America ;  but  in  the  years 
now  under  review  there  was  a  healthful  broadening  of 
knowledge,  and  the  life  and  literatures  of  Germany,  Italy, 
Spain,  and  the  north  of  Europe  brought  new  treasure 
into  the  coffers  of  the  American  historian,  essayist, 
novelist,  and  poet. 

American  writers  now  also  had  some  advantage  over 
their  predecessors  in  the  matter  of  subjects  adapted  for 
imaginative  treatment.  The  new  feeling  for  nature  —  for 


1  The  profits  of  authorship  were,  of  course,  still  meagre  for  many 
years;  and  the  lack  of  an  international  copyright  law,  by  allowing 
American  publishers  to  steal  the  labor  of  English  authors,  instead  of 
paying  for  home  talent,  tended  to  keep  them  meagre. 


i  io      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

its  beauty  and  sublimity,  its  mystery  and  spiritual  signifi 
cance  —  was  aroused  in  the  New  World  even  more  easily 
than  in  the  Old,  and  proved  in  fact  the  source  of  our 
earliest  poetry  of  high  merit .V.  Indian  life  was  to  American 
writers  of  the  seventeenth1  and  eighteenth  centuries  a 
frequent  subject  for  history  and  description,  but  it  lay  too 
near  their  everyday  walk  and  conversation  to  lend  itself 
readily  to  poetic  treatment  or  to  imaginative  handling  in 
prose ;  while  to  Cooper  and  Longfellow  the  red  man  of 
the  forest  was  sufficiently  removed  in  time  to  be  idealized 
without  difficulty  into  a  pathetic,  noble,  and  romantic 
figure.  'American  history  of  the  seventeenth  century 
and  even  of  the  eighteenth  —  the  personal  incidents  and 
the  fireside  legends,  at  least,  which  hang  upon  the  fringe 
of  the  greater  and  too  well-known  events — had  taken  on 
in  the  nineteenth  century  something  of  the  poetry  of  the 
Past,  the  more  because  men  of  the  present  age  have 
drawn  away  so  rapidly  from  the  modes  of  life  of  their 
grandsires.  The  witchcraft  in  which  Cotton  Mather 
believed  had  a  peculiar  interest  and  a  high  literary  value 
for  the  unbelieving  generation  of  Hawthorne ;  and  the 
manners  and  customs  of  Revolutionary  days  acquired  in 
half  a  century  some  of  the  charm  of  the  obsolete. 

American  authors  of  the  nineteenth  century  in  com 
parison  with  their  forerunners  were  thus  rich  in  literary 
material,  but  in  comparison  with  their  brother  craftsmen 
of  Europe  they  were  poor.  They  lived  in  a  land  settled 
but  recently  and  by  a  race  which  had  outlived  the  age  of 
chivalry  and  poetic  superstition.  The  Puritans  brought 
with  them  a  few  valuable  devils,  but  no  fairies,  brownies, 
water-kelpies,  or  dragons  to  haunt  the  woods  and  streams 
of  the  New  World.  American  history  has  been  great  in 


THE   NATIONAL    LIMITATIONS.  in 

its  ideas  and  in  its  influence  upon  the  progress  of  man 
kind  ;  but  it  has  been  deficient  in  the  spectacular,  the  pic 
turesque,  the  romantic,  the  dramatic  —  in  nearly  all  the 
elements  which  the  poet  and  romancer  most  successfully 
build  up  into  forms  of  art.  Nature  in  America  is  indeed 
beautiful  and  magnificent,  but  it  is  largely  destitute  of  the 
heightened  charm  exerted  over  most  minds  by  the  union 
of  natural  beauty  with  historic  association  and  poetic 

legend.     No  ruined  castles, 

i   . 

Cased  in  the  unfeeling  armor  of  old  time, 

rise  along  our  rivers,  to  remind  the  traveller  of  bygone 
centuries  when  there  were 

Banners  on  high,  and  battles  passed  below. 

No  venerable  and  massive  cathedrals  stand  in  our  noisy 
cities,  silent  memorials  of  the  mellow  beauty  and  religion 
in  the  lives  of  generations  long  dead.  Even  the  present 
in  America,  with  its  democratic  level  and  monotony, 
its  lack  of  those  poetic  and  dramatic  contrasts  of  in 
herited  conditions  which  make  society  in  the  Old 
World  more  interesting  to  the  artist  if  also  less  condu 
cive  to  the  happiness  and  development  of  the  common 
people,  is  comparatively  poor  in  material  for  literature 
of  the  type  which  has  hitherto  best  held  the  attention 
of  mankind.  These  handicaps  of  the  American  author  in 
choice  of  subjects,  together  with  the  crudeness  of  life  in 
much  of  the  country  and  the  practical  and  moral  rather 
than  artistic  temper  of  the  mass  of  the  people,  may  serve 
to  warn  us  once  more  that  in  the  field  we  are  about  to 
traverse,  rich  as  it  is  compared  with  the  tracts  already 
passed,  we  must  not  look  for  literature  supremely  great. 
Nor,  even  within  this  field,  will  it  be  wise  to  confine  our 


ii2      THE   LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

attention  wholly  to  the  best.  In  the  half-century  with 
which  we  now  have  to  do,  some  dozen  American  authors 
attained  to  such  relative  preeminence  that  it  is  easy  to 
forget  that  their  writings  constitute  only  a  part  of  the 
literature  of  their  times  ;  and  it  is  one  of  the  functions  of 
a  history  of  literature  to  remind  the  reader  that  moun 
tains  imply  foot-hills  and  a  plain,  and  to  help  him  to  see 
the  literary  landscape  in  its  entirety.  For  this  reason  the 
work  of  representative  minor  writers  will  be  sketched-in 
as  a  setting  for  the  greater,  that  the  latter  may  thereby 
be  taken  out  of  the  literary  vacuum  in  which  they  might 
otherwise  seem  to  stand. 

The  Poets,  Essayists,  and  Writers  of  Prose  Fiction 
may  for  convenience  be  loosely  grouped  into  schools 
according  to  the  section  of  the  country  in  which  they 
lived.  The  New  York,  or  "  Knickerbocker,"  School  had 
precedence  in  time.  Its  great  names  are  Irving,  Cooper, 
and  Bryant ;  but  it  includes  several  other  writers  of 
no  mean  ability,  who,  like  other  minor  authors  of  the 
period,  have  a  claim  upon  our  gratitude  for  their  part  in 
creating  that  better  literary  atmosphere  without  which 
their  more  famous  brethren  could  not  have  "waxed  so 
great."  It  is  not  strange  that  New  York  City  early 
developed  into  somewhat  of  a  literary  centre.  The  mix 
ture  of  many  nationalities  in  its  population  encouraged 
breadth  of  ideas  and  a  cosmopolitan  spirit,  at  the  same 
time  that  it  afforded  some  striking  contrasts  in  character 
and  mode  of  life,  the  old  Dutch  element  in  particular 
furnishing  materials  both  amusing  and  picturesque.  The 
beautiful  and  impressive  scenery  of  the  Hudson  was 
another  feature  of  evident  literary  value.  The  great 
drawback,  then  as  now,  was  the  excess  of  the  commercial 


THE   NEW   YORK    SCHOOL.  113 

spirit  over  the  intellectual  and  artistic.  But  the  New 
York  even  of  the  years  1820  to  1840  was  far  from  devoid 
of  the  finer  culture.  At  the  earlier  date  its  population 
was  123,706,  at  the  later  312,710;  and  the  causes  and 
consequents  of  the  higher  civilization  in  large  cities  — 
wealth,  leisure,  and  refinement;  churches,  schools,  col 
leges,  and  libraries  ;  the  theatre,  the  opera,  the  newspaper, 
and  the  magazine  —  were  present  in  more  and  more 
abundance. 

Among  the  minor  authors  who  grew  up  amid  these 
conditions,  JAMES  K.  PAULDING  (1778-1860),  Irving's 
lifelong  friend,  and  Secretary  of  the  Navy  under  Van 
Buren,  has  an  honorable  place.  He  wrote  some  verse, 
including  The  Lay  of  the  Scotch  Fiddle  (1813) — a  clever 
parody  on  Scott's  Lay  of  the  Last  Minstrel,  full  of  honest 
contempt  for  the  British  navy,  —  and  The  Backwoodsman 
(1818),  a  tale  of  frontier  life,  in  rather  prosaic  style. 
But  his  best  work  was  in  prose.  He  assisted  Irving  in 
the  Salmagundi  papers,  unaided  brought  out  a  second 
series  in  1819-1820,  and  wrote  several  tales  and  novels 
besides  much  miscellaneous  matter.  His  best  novel, 
The  Dutchman's  Fireside  (1831),  combines  some  of  the 
most  attractive  features  of  Cooper's  and  Irving's  work, 
containing  exciting  incidents  of  Indian  warfare,  delicate 
pen-pictures  of  Hudson  scenery,  and  amusing  sketches 
of  Dutch  life  and  character.  A  more  brilliant  man  was 
JOSEPH  RODMAN  DRAKE  (1795-1820),  a  physician,  by 
whose  early  death  American  literature  suffered  a  severe 
loss.  The  Culprit  Fay,  written  in  1819,  handles  the 
time-worn  material  of  fairy-lore  with  a  fresh  and  delicate 
touch  and  a  fancy  that  is  in  places  exquisite.  Drake's 
part  in  the  Croaker  poems,  published  anonymously  in 


ii4      THE    LITERATURE    FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

The  Evening  Post  in  1819,  shows  his  gift  for  light  satiric 
and  society  verse ;  and  his  poem,  The  American  Flag, 
in  the  same  series,  beginning, 

When  Freedom,  from  her  mountain  height, 

unites  patriotic  fervor  with  poetic  beauty.  The  name  of 
FITZ-GREENE  HALLECK  (1790-1867),  a  bank  clerk,  is 
always  associated  with  Drake's  because  of  the  close  and 
beautiful  friendship  between  the  two  men.  Halleck  was 
Drake's  associate  in  the  popular  Croaker  sallies  ;  and  a  few 
of  his  later  poems  —  Marco  Bozzaris  (1825),  a  spirited 
martial  lyric  on  the  Greeks'  struggle  for  freedom  from  the 
Turks;  Alnwick  Castle  (1827),  beginning  with  romantic 
revery  and  ending  in  a  vein  of  humorous  satire ;  Burns 
(1827),  of  which  Burns's  sister  said,  in  1855,  "nothing 
finer  has  been  written  about  Robert "  ;  and  Red  Jacket 
(1828),  a  humorous  but  sympathetic  portrait  of  the 
famous  Indian  chief,  who, 

With  look  like  patient  Job's  eschewing  evil; 
With  motions  graceful  as  a  bird's  in  air; 

was  yet 

...  in  sober  truth,  the  veriest  devil 
That  e'er  clinched  fingers  in  a  captive's  hair ! 

—  won  deserved  fame  in  their  day,  and  are  not  yet  wholly 
forgotten.  Most  of  Halleck's  other  work  is  on  a  lower 
plane,  although  Fanny  (1819),  a  rather  lame  attempt  to 
follow  in  the  footsteps  of  Byron  in  Beppo  and  Don  Juan, 
was  popular  for  several  years.  JOHN  HOWARD  PAYNE 
(1791-1852),  actor,  playwright,  journalist,  and  United 
States  consul  at  Tunis,  a  friend  of  Irving,  Coleridge,  and 
Lamb,  is  now  remembered  chiefly  by  his  song  of  Home, 
Sweet  Home  (in  his  opera,  Clari,  1823)  ;  but  in  his  life- 


MINOR   AUTHORS.  115 

time  he  had  considerable  fame  as  a  clever  dramatist, 
Brutus  (1818)  being  one  of  his  most  successful  plays. 
The  more  pretentious  poems  of  SAMUEL  WOODWORTH 
(1785-1842)  have  gone  down  into  oblivion,  but  he  still 
sips  immortality  from  The  Old  Oaken  Bucket  (1826). 
GEORGE  P.  MORRIS  (1802-1864),  who  with  Woodworth 
founded  The  New  York  Mirror  in  1823,  pleased  the 
taste  of  the  times  by  his  short  and  easy  poems  of  com 
monplace  sentiment  —  Woodman,  Spare  That  Tree  ;  My 
Mother's  Bible;  The  Main  Truck;  etc.  CHARLES  F. 
HOFFMAN  (1806-1884),  whose  literary  life  was  cut  short 
by  insanity  in  1849,  founded  The  Knickerbocker  maga 
zine  in  1833,  edited  several  other  periodicals,  and  was  a 
versatile  and  voluminous  author,  writing  sketches  of 
Western  life,  two  novels  ( Vanderlyn  and  Greyslaer] , 
and  many  poems ;  of  the  poems  those  on  love,  nature, 
and  Indian  life  have  some  originality,  although  the  influ 
ence  of  Byron  and  Moore  upon  them  is  often  apparent. 
A  more  considerable  figure  in  the  literary  world  of  his 
day,  though  he  has  since  sadly  dwindled,  was  NATHANIEL 
P.  WILLIS  (1806-1867).  It  is  the  fashion  nowadays  to 
sneer  at  Willis's  "  milk-and-water  "  paraphrases  of  Scrip 
ture  stories,  and  in  truth  they  are  better  fitted  for  babes 
than  for  men.  But  it  should  be  remembered  that  in 
these  poems  of  diluted  pathos  and  effeminate  sensibility 
Willis  was  merely  doing  with  a  good  deal  of  literary 
grace  what  many  other  poets  of  the  time  were  doing 
with  none ;  and,  in  particular,  that  this  sickly  stuff 
constituted  only  a  small  part  of  his  literary  output. 
Some  of  his  poems  have  a  pretty  fancy.  His  two  plays, 
Bianca  Visconti  (1837)  and  Tortesa  the  Usurer  (acted 
in  New  York,  1838;  in  London,  1839),  are  written  in 


ii6      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

manly  style,  and  the  lighter  scenes  show  literary  deft 
ness  and  lively  wit.  His  prose  writings  were  varied  and 
entertaining,  his  sketches  of  notables  whom  he  met 
abroad  having  some  permanent  interest.  And  he  did 
much  to  further  general  literary  culture  at  home  by 
his  labors  as  founder  or  editor  of  several  magazines.1 
ALFRED  B.  STREET  (1811-1881),  state  librarian  of  New 
York,  in  Frontenac  (1849)  made  an  ambitious  but  not 
very  successful  attempt  to  handle  Indian  and  frontier  life 
in  Scott's  narrative  manner ;  his  nature  poems  are  full  of 
fine  observation,  and  have  some  beauty  of  mood  and  ex 
pression,  although  they  are  far  inferior  to  Bryant's  in 
depth  and  strength  ;  The  Gray  Forest-Eagle  (in  Poems, 
1845),  his  best-known  poem,  has  sweep  of  pinion,  but  is 
more  rhetorical  than  poetical.  Let  it  suffice,  in  passing 
to  the  great  trio  of  the  New  York  group,  to  mention 
ROBERT  C.  SANDS  (1799-1832),  WILLIAM  LEGGETT  (1802- 
1839),  RALPH  HOYT  (1806-1878).  PARK  BENJAMIN  (1809- 
1864),  and  HENRY  T.  TUCKERMAN  (1813-1871),  who, 
with  "  many  more  whose  names  on  earth  are  dark," 
contributed  their  share  to  the  literature  of  the  Empire 
State. 

WASHINGTON  IRVING/  the  first  American  man  of  letters 

1  Some  of  his  works  are  these:    Sketches  (poems),   1827;    Melanie 
and  Of/it'?'  Poems,   1835;    Pencillings  by  the    Way,  1835,   1844;    Letters 
from  under  a  Bridge,  1840;  Poems  of  Passion,  1843;  Lady  Jane  and 
Humorous    Poems,    1844;    Dashes  at  Life  with    a   Free   Pencil,  1845; 
Hurrygraphs,  1851;  Paul  Fane  (novel),  1857;    The   Convalescent,  1859. 
Willis's   father   founded    The    Youth's   Companion   in    1827.     The   poet 
established  The  American  Monthly  Magazine  in  1829,  which  in  1831  was 
merged  in   The  New   York  Mirror,  with  which  he  was  connected  for 
many  years  ;   in  1839  he  started  -The  Corsair,  to  which  Thackeray  con 
tributed  ;   in  1846,  with  Morris,  he  founded  The  Home  Journal  and  was 
one  of  its  editors  for  the  rest  of  his  life. 

2  LIFE.     Born  in  New  York  City,  April  3,  1783.     Father,  Scotch 


WASHINGTON   IRVING.  117 

to  win  the  ear  of  Europe  and  take  the  sting  of  truth  out 
of  Sydney  Smith's  contemptuous  question,  "Who  reads 
an  American  book?"1  was  only  in  part  the  product  of 

tradesman ;  mother,  English.  Began  study  of  law,  1799.  First  trip  to 
Europe,  1804-1806.  Admitted  to  New  York  bar,  1806.  Death  of 
Matilda  Hoffman,  his  betrothed,  1809.  Became  a  silent  partner  in  his 
brothers'  cutlery  business,  1810.  Appointed  military  aide  to  Governor 
Tompkins,  1814.  Second  residence  abroad,  1815-1832:  in  Great 
Britain,  1815-1820;  in  Germany,  Austria,  France,  with  two  visits  to 
England,  1820-1826;  in  Spain,  1826-1829;  in  England,  as  secretary  of 
United  States  Legation,  1829-1831.  Received  medal  from  Royal 
Society  of  Literature,  and  degree  of  LL.D.  from  Oxford,  1830.  Return 
to  America,  and  tour  through  the  Southwest,  1832.  Residence  at 
Sunnyside,  1836-1842,  Third  residence  abroad,  as  minister  to  Spain, 
1842-1846.  Last  years  at  Sunnyside,  1846-1859.  Died  at  Sunnyside, 
Nov.  28,  1859.  An  Episcopalian. 

WORKS.  Jonathan  Oldstyle  letters  in  The  Morning  Chronicle 
(owned  by  Irving's  brother  Peter),  1802.  Salmagundi,  Jan.  24,  1807- 
Jan.  25,  1808,  twenty  numbers  at  irregular  intervals.  The  Literary 
Picture  Gallery  ("  seven  numbers  of  a  ...  bagatelle  in  prose  and 
verse,"  in  which  Irving  probably  "had  a  hand."  —  Warner's  life  of 
Irving,  p.  51),  1808.  A  History  of  New  York,  by  Diedrich  Knicker 
bocker,  1809.  Articles  in  Select  Reviews  (afterwards  called  The  Analec- 
tic  Magazine),  of  which  Irving  was  editor,  1812-1815  ;  Traits  of  Indian 
Character  and  Philip  of  Pokanoket  were  reprinted  in  the  English 
edition  of  The  Sketch  Book,  and  in  subsequent  American  editions. 
The  Sketch  Book  of  Geoffrey  Crayon,  Gent,  (published  in  seven  parts), 
1819-1820.  Bracebridge  Hall,  1822.  Tales  of  a  Traveller,  1824.  The 
Life  and  Voyages  of  Christopher  Columbus,  1828;  abridged  edition, 
1829.  A  Chronicle  of  the  Conquest  of  Granada,  1829.  Voyages  and 
Discoveries  of  the  Companions  of  Columbus,  1831.  The  Alhambra, 
1832.  The  Crayon  Miscellany:  I.,  A  Tour  on  the  Prairies,  1835; 
II.,  Abbotsford  and  Newstead  Abbey,  1835;  III.,  Legends  of  the  Con 
quest  of  Spain,  1836.  Astoria,  1836.  Adventures  of  Captain  Bonneville, 
1837.  Contributions  to  The  Knickerbocker  magazine,  1839-1841; 
republished,  with  some  other  matter,  as  Wolfert's  Roost,  1855.  A 
Biography  of  Margaret  Davidson,  1841.  Oliver  Goldsmith :  a  Biogra 
phy,  1849.  Mahomet  and  his  Successors,  1849-1850.  The  Life  of 
George  Washington,  1855-1859.  Collected  and  revised  edition  of 
works,  1848-1850.  Most  of  Irving's  writings  were  published  simul 
taneous1)'  in  America  and  England. 

1  "  In  the  four  quarters  of  the  globe,  who  reads  an  American  book  ? 
or  goes  to  an  American  play  ?  or  looks  at  an  American  picture  or 


u8      THE    LITERATURE    FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

American  influences.  His  parents  were  natives  of  Great 
Britain;  he  owed  most  of  his  culture  to  prolonged  resi 
dence  abroad;  and  the  larger  number  of  his  subjects 
were  taken  from  the  life  and  history  of  England  and 
Spain.  His  youth  was  not  remarkably  precocious, 
although  at  the  age  of  twelve  he  contributed  poems  and 
essays  to  a  local  newspaper,  and  at  thirteen  wrote  a  play, 
which  was  acted  at  a  friend's  house.  He  was  already 
devoted  to  the  theatre,  hurrying  home  at  nine  to  attend 
family  prayers,  and  then  climbing  out  the  window  to 
return  to  the  play.  A  boy  of  his  fun-loving  temperament 
could  not  be  expected  to  devote  himself  very  seriously, 
at  sixteen,  to  the  study  of  the  law,  and  in  truth  Irving 
was  never  a  hard  student  of  that  abstruse  subject.  Of 
more  value  to  the  future  author  of  Rip  Van  Winkle  were 
the  days  spent  with  his  gun  in  Sleepy  Hollow  in  1798, 
and  a  voyage  up  the  Hudson  two  years  later,  where  (he 
says)  the  "Kaatskill  Mountains  had  the  most  witching 
effect  on  my  boyish  imagination."  Upon  his  coming  of 
age  the  delicate  state  of  his  health  induced  his  brothers 
to  send  him  abroad;  he  spent  a  delightful  year  and  a 
half  in  France,  Italy,  and  England,  frequenting  theatres 
and  art  galleries,  meeting  distinguished  men,  and  by 
his  gentlemanly  charm  finding  easy  entrance  everywhere 
into  the  best  society.  On  his  return  his  life  continued 
for  many  years  to  be  rather  an  idle  one.  He  belonged 
to  a  circle  of  convivial  spirits,  and  the  delights  of  society 
in  New  York,  Albany,  Baltimore,  and  Washington  con 
sumed  much  of  his  time.  Two  pieces  of  literary  work  — 

statue?" — The  Edinburgh  Review,  January,  1820.  "The  courteous 
and  ingenious  stranger  [Irving]  whom  we  are  ambitious  of  introdueing 
to  the  notice  of  our  readers." —  The  Edinburgh  Review,  August,  1820. 


WASHINGTON    IRVING.  119 

Salmagundi  and  A  History  of  New  York  —  gave  promise, 
however,  of  his  future  career.  It  was  at  this  period, 
also,  that  the  death  of  his  betrothed,  a  lovely  girl  of 
eighteen,  brought  to  Irving  the  great  and  lasting  sorrow 
of  his  life.1  Partly  to  divert  his  mind  he  resumed  the 
interrupted  History  of  New  York,  and  with  an  aching 
heart  wrote  what  was  to  set  the  world  on  laughter. 
This  task  completed,  however,  he  sank  back  again  into 
graceful  indolence. 

During  the  first  years  of  his  second  residence  abroad, 
Irving  made  the  acquaintance  of  Campbell,  Scott,  and 
other  famous  men,  and  gained  that  familiarity  with 
English  life  which  appears  in  the  pages  of  The  Sketch 
Book.  But  it  was  not  till  his  brothers'  bankruptcy,  in 
1818,  that  he  resolutely  gave  himself  to  literature 
as  a  profession.  His  first  venture,  The  Sketch  Book, 
at  once  became  popular  on  both  sides  of  the  water, 
and  brought  in  considerable  sums.2  From  this  time 
Irving's  life  was  one  of  continuous  literary  labor, 
interrupted  only  by  travelling  and  by  the  duties  of 
public  office.  His  researches  into  the  fascinating 
history  of  Spain  prolonged  his  foreign  residence  far 
beyond  his  first  intention.  But  his  heart  and  imagina 
tion  still  clung  to  the  scenes  of  his  youth;  and  when 
he  returned  to  America,  after  an  absence  of  seventeen 
years,  his  most  cherished  ambition  was  to  make  for 
himself  "a  nest "  on  the  banks  of  the  Hudson,  and  there 

1  "  I  cannot  tell  you,"  he  wrote  years  afterward,  "  what  a  horrid  state 
of  mind  I  was  in  for  a  long  time.     I  seemed  to  care  for  nothing;  the 
world  was  a  blank  to  me.  ...  I  was  naturally  susceptible,  and  tried  to 
form  other  attachments,  but  my  heart  would  not  hold  on."  —  P.  M. 
Irving's  life  of  Irving,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  226,  227. 

2  Before  his  death  Irving  had  earned  by  his  pen  $205,383. 


120      THE   LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

spend  the  remainder  of  his  days.  His  wish  was  grati 
fied.  In  the  old  Dutch  cottage  near  Tarrytown,  over 
grown  with  ivy  from  Melrose  Abbey,  he  lived  for  many 
years,  happy  in  his  work  and  in  the  companionship  of 
the  relatives  and  friends  with  whom  he  loved  to  fill  his 
bachelor  home.  Only  once  did  he  surfer  himself  to  be 
drawn  away  for  long,  —  when  he  represented  his  country 
at  the  court  of  Spain;  he  discharged  the  duties  of  his 
high  office  with  dignity  and  tact,  but  was  glad  to  return 
to  his  beloved  Sunnyside  and  to  his  interrupted  literary 
tasks.  There  his  days  gently  declined,  full  of  cheerful 
labor  almost  to  the  last,  and  there  he  died  at  a  ripe  old 
age,  lamented  by  millions  at  home  and  abroad. 

Of  Irving' s  personal  appearance  a  relative  writes: 
"He  had  dark  gray  eyes,  a  handsome  straight  nose,  .  .  . 
a  broad,  high,  full  forehead,  and  a  small  mouth.  .  .  . 
His  smile  was  exceedingly  genial,  lighting  up  his  whole 
face  and  rendering  it  very  attractive."  x  George  William 
Curtis  says:  " There  was  a  chirping,  cheery,  old-school 
air  in  his  appearance  which  was  undeniably  Dutch.  .  .  . 
He  seemed,  indeed,  to  have  stepped  out  of  his  own 
books;  and  the  cordial  grace  and  humor  of  his  address, 
if  he  stopped  for  a  passing  chat,  were  delightfully  char 
acteristic.  He  was  then  our  most  famous  man  of  letters, 
but  he  was  simply  free  from  all  self-consciousness  and 
assumption  and  dogmatism."2  "His  usual  hours  for 
literary  work,"  says  one  reporting  an  interview  with  him 
in  his  last  days,  "were  from  morning  till  noon.  .  .  . 
He  had  always  been  subject  to  moods  and  caprices,  and 

1  C.  D.  Warner's  life  of  Irving  (American  Men  of  Letters  series), 
p.  48. 

2  Easy  Chair. 


WASHINGTON    IRVING.  121 

could  never  tell,  when  he  took  up  the  pen,  how  many 
hours  would  pass  before  he  would  lay  it  down.  'But,' 
said  he,  'these  capricious  periods  of  the  heat  and  glow 
of  composition  have  been  the  happiest  hours  of  my  life. 
I  have  never  found  in  anything  outside  of  the  four  walls 
of  my  study  any  enjoyment  equal  to  sitting  at  my  writing- 
desk,  with  a  clean  page,  a  new  theme,  and  a  mind  wide 
awake.  .  .  .  When  I  was  in  Spain,  .  .  .  and  engaged 
on  the  Life  of  Columbus,  I  often  wrote  fourteen  or  fifteen 
hours  out  of  the  twenty-four.'  He  said  that  whenever 
he  had  forced  his  mind  unwillingly  to  work,  the  product 
was  worthless,  and  he  invariably  threw  it  away."1 

Irving's  works  fall  into  three  groups:  essays,  sketches, 
and  tales;  descriptions  of  life  in  the  West;  biographies 
and  histories  The  first  group  contains  most  of  the 
writings  by  which  he  will  be  longest  known.  The 
Addisonian  Oldstyle  letters  are  merely  promising  per 
formances  for  a  youth  of  nineteen.2  The  Salmagundi 
essays  also  take  their  cue  from  The  Spectator,  but  exceed 
it  in  frolicsomeness  and  youthful  dash.  "Our  inten 
tion,"  say  the  writers3  in  their  first  number,  "is  simply 
to  instruct  the  young,  reform  the  old,  correct  the  town, 
and  castigate  the  age."  The  town  took  kindly  to  such 
good-natured  and  amusing  correction,  and  the  publica 
tion  was,  for  the  times,  a  great  success.4  Salmagundi 

1  P.  M.  Irving's  life  of  Irving,  Vol.  IV.,  pp.  319-321. 

2  They  were,  however,  generally  copied  into  the  newspapers  of  the 
day,  and  procured  the  young  author  a  visit  from  C.  B.  Brown,  who 
invited  him  to  contribute  to  The  Liter ary  Magazine. 

3  J.  K.  Paulding  and  Irving's  brother  William  were  associated  with 
him.     William  wrote  the  poems  by  "  Pindar  Cockloft."     For  Paulding's 
share,  see  P.  M.  Irving's  life  of  Irving,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  176-178. 

4  It  was  reprinted  in  London  in  1811 ;  and  in  The  Monthly  Review  was 
reviewed  "  much  more  favorably,"  says  Irving,  "than  I  had  expected." 


122      THE   LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

can  still  be  read  with  considerable  pleasure,  although 
the  fun  is  often  beaten  out  too  thin  and  most  of  it  is 
the  effervescence  of  youth  rather  than  really  penetrating 
humor  or  wit.  The  papers  contain,  however,  the  germ 
of  much  of  Irving' s  subsequent  work.1  A  History  of 
New  York  had  for  its  main  object  "  to  embody  the  tradi 
tions  "  of  that  city  "  in  an  amusing  form;  ...  to  clothe 
home  scenes  and  places  and  familiar  names  with  those 
imaginative  and  whimsical  associations  so  seldom  met 
with  in  our  new  country,  but  which  live  like  charms  and 
spells  about  the  cities  of  the  Old  World."2  A  few  de 
scendants  of  old  Dutch  families,  having  more  pedigree 
than  humor,  took  the  thing  in  a  huff;  but  in  general  it 
was  recognized  as  a  humorous  extravaganza,  and  met 
with  a  hearty  welcome.  It  found  some  appreciative 
readers  abroad.  Scott  declared  that  his  sides  were  "  sore 
with  laughing"  over  it;  and  Dickens  wrote,  "Diedrich 
Knickerbocker  I  have  worn  to  death  in  my  pocket." 
The  book  has  faults  enough.  It  is  tediously  prolix;  the 
humor  is  too  elaborate,  and  is  sometimes  indelicate; 
and  from  beginning  to  end  is  heard  a  blare  of  trumpets 


1  "  A  chapter  of  '  The  Chronicles  of  the  renowned  and  ancient  city 
of  Gotham  "...  anticipates  the  humor  of  Knickerbocker ;   there  are 
traits  of  tenderness  and  pathos  suggestive  of  the   plaintive  sentiment 
of  the  Sketch  Book;  and  the  kindly  humors  of  the  Cockloft  mansion 
are  an  American  Bracebridge  Hall."  —  E.  A.  Duyckinck,  as  quoted  in 
P.  M.  Irving's  life  of  Irving,  Vol.  I.,  p.  211. 

2  The  Author  s  Apology,  written  in  1848,  as  a  preface  to  the  new 
edition.    He  says,  also,  referring  to  the  period  of  the  Dutch  domination  : 
"This,  then,  broke  upon  me  as  the  poetic  age  of  our  city;  poetic  from 
its  very  obscurity;  and  open  ...  to  all  the  embellishments  of  heroic 
fiction.     I  hailed  my  native  city  as  fortunate  above  all  other  American 
cities,  in  having  an  antiquity  thus  extending  back  into  the  regions  of 
doubt  and  fable."     Compare  what  was  said  on  pages  109-111,  about 
subjects  for  American  literature. 


WASHINGTON   IRVING.  123 

announcing  that  of  course  the  whole  thing  is  tremen 
dously  funny.  There  is  in  it,  nevertheless,  a  large  body 
of  hearty  and  genuine  laughter,  and  it  improves  as  it 
goes  on,  the  mock-heroic  capture  of  Fort  Christina 
being  as  breezy  a  passage  as  any  in  Fielding.  Irving 
was  to  do  more  finished  work  than  Knickerbocker's  New 
York,  but  he  would  never  again  do  anything  quite  so 
free- limbed  and  robust.  The  Sketch  Book,  as  a  whole, 
has  perhaps  been  commonly  rated  too  high,  chiefly  be 
cause  it  was  the  work  by  which  the  author  first  became 
widely  known.  "Rip  Van  Winkle,"  "The  Legend  of 
Sleepy  Hollow,"  "Westminster  Abbey,"  "Stratford-on- 
Avon,"  "Little  Britain,"  and  two  or  three  delightful 
pictures  of  English  country  life  are  about  all  the  sketches 
that  have  really  lived.  One  who  nowadays  reads  the 
book  through  finds  much  of  the  thought  and  observation 
superficial,  and  the  sentiment  often  overdone.  The 
writer  too  consciously  cherishes  his  emotions  with  a 
lively  sense  of  their  preciousness;  and  in  "Rural  Fune 
rals,"  and  elsewhere,  he  seems,  like  the  author  of  A 
Sentimental  Journey,  to  be  smacking  his  lips  delicately 
over  the  honey  of  tears.  "Rip  Van  Winkle,"  however, 
is  a  masterpiece;  the  dreamy  beauty  of  the  Catskills,  a 
poetic  old  legend,  the  quaintness  of  old  Dutch  life,  and 
the  bustle  of  small  politics  under  a  republic  are  all  com 
bined  and  harmonized  with  wonderful  skill;  and  there 
is  no  finer  character-sketch  in  our  literature  than  the 
lovable  old  vagabond,  Rip,  as  he  goes  slouching  through 
the  village,  his  arms  full  of  children,  a  troop  of  dogs  at 
his  heels,  and  the  shrill  pursuing  voice  of  Dame  Winkle 
dying  away  in  the  distance.  In  Bracebridge  Hall, 
which,  in  its  main  conception,  is  an  expansion  of  cer- 


124      THE   LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

tain  parts  of  The  Sketch  Book,  the  author  seems  to  be 
making  the  most  of  his  material,  dealing  it  out  in  small 
quantities  well  diluted.  Partly  to  offset  the  resulting 
languor,  several  tales  are  introduced,  rather  flimsily  con 
nected  with  life  at  Bracebridge  Hall  but  the  best  part 
of  the  book.  "The  Stout  Gentleman  "  is  one  of  Irving's 
most  life-like,  acute,  and  suggestive  sketches.  "  Dolph 
Heyliger  "  returns  to  Dutch  life  on  the  Hudson,  where 
the  creator  of  Uiedrich  Knickerbocker  is  always  in 
happy  mood.  "The  Student  of  Salamanca,"  with  its 
pleasing  union  of  love  and  adventure,  points  forward  to 
the  author's  subsequent  wanderings  over  the  enchanted 
ground  of  Spanish  history  and  romance.1  In  Tales  of 
a  Traveller,  placid  description  now  becomes  merely  a 
framework  for  lively  narrative.  "  Strange  Stories  by  a 
Nervous  Gentleman"  are  sometimes  a  little  broad,  and 
the  one  about  the  Young  Italian  is  sentimental,  romantic, 
and  morbid  in  a  way  now  gone  out  of  fashion.  In 
"The  Italian  Banditti  "  the  story  of  the  Young  Robber, 
by  its  repulsive  tragedy,  jars  unpleasantly  upon  the  holi 
day  atmosphere  of  the  rest  of  the  section.  "  The  Money- 
Diggers  "  describes  Dutch  life  in  New  York  without  the 
diffuseness  of  Knickerbocker's  History,  but  with  less 
wealth  of  humor.  "Buckthorne  and  His  Friends"  is 
the  most  enjoyable  part  of  the  book,  containing  some 
capital  satire  upon  the  trade  of  authorship,  and,  in  its 
pictures  of  the  experiences  of  a  strolling  player  and 
literary  adventurer,  having  much  of  the  careless  charm 
of  Smollett  and  Goldsmith.  In  The  Alhambra,  Irving 

1  Irving's  continued  indebtedness  to  The  Spectator  is  obvious.  Squire 
Bracebridge  is  Sir  Roger  at  his  country-seat,  and  the  Busy  Man  is  Will 
Wimble  put  under  a  microscope. 


WASHINGTON    IRVING.  125 

had  a  congenial  theme,  his  dreamy  luxuriance  and  inno 
cent  voluptuousness  finding  their  appropriate  food  in 
the  skies,  ruins,  and  legends  of  sunny,  romantic  Spain. 
The  book  has  a  unique  value  for  the  practical  Anglo- 
Saxon  mind,  helping  it  to  catch  something  of  the  dreamy 
romance  of  life  in  old  Granada. 

The  second  and  third  groups  may  be  passed  over 
lightly.  The  books  on  life  in  the  West,  of  which  Asto 
ria  is  the  best,  contain  many  interesting  incidents  and 
scenes;  but  the  descriptions  were  mostly  done  from 
notes  furnished  by  others,  and,  furthermore,  Irving  was 
not  quite  the  man  to  paint  adequately  the  vast  panorama 
of  the  settling  of  the  West.  The  biographies  and  his 
tories  have  great  charm  of  style,  although  as  historical 
writings  their  rank  is  in  the  second  class.  The  Life  of 
Goldsmith  is  at  once  delightful,  and  true  to  the  spirit 
of  that  lovable,  garret-haunting  Bohemian.  The  Life 
of  Columbus,  also,  reproduces  finely  the  atmosphere  of 
large  romance  in  the  days  of  the  great  admiral. 

Washington  Irving  was  not  a  great  writer,  but  he  was 
a  very  pleasing  one.  He  lacked  great  passion,  great 
imagination,  great  thought.  His  creative  power  was 
soon  exhausted,  and  he  turned  to  history  for  material. 
He  did  not  see  very  deeply  into  human  life.  His  satire, 
though  kindly,  is  keen;  but  it  is  never  great.  His  style 
sacrifices  power  to  melody  and  grace;  it  can  soothe  and 
charm,  but  it  cannot  electrify;  he  could  say  in  it  all 
that  he  had  to  say,  but  King  Lear  or  Sartor  Res ar tits 
could  not  be  said  in  it.  His  humor  never  goes  deep 
into  human  nature,  and  is  often  extravagant  and  some 
times  strained,  although  in  his  later  works  it  is  frequently 
spontaneous  and  delicate.  His  sentiment  and  pathos 


126      THE   LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

are  old-fashioned  in  manner,  modern  taste  preferring 
a  more  dramatic  or  incidental  handling  of  those  dan 
gerous  elements.  But  although  Irving  will  never  again 
enjoy  the  same  degree  of  fame  which  was  his  during  the 
first  half  of  the  century,  his  position  as  an  American 
classic  is  secure.  He  did  two  great  services  to  American 
literature.  He  first  revealed  the  romance  of  the  Hudson 
and  of  old  Dutch  life,  and  he  steeped  his  pages  in  the 
sunny  tranquillity  and  placid  beauty  of  his  own  spirit. 
American  life  has  always  lacked  repose,  never  more  so 
than  now;  and  the  modern  reader  may  find  wholesome 
refreshing  in  the  pages  of  Washington  Irving,  forgetting 
there  for  a  time  "the  weariness,  the  fever,  and  the  fret" 
of  an  electric  civilization. 

A  very  different  man  and  a  more  powerful  writer  was 
JAMES  FENIMORE  COOPER, l  burly,  irascible,  pugnacious, 
hearty  in  his  loves  and  in  his  hates,  the  creator  of  the 

i  LIFE.  Born  at  Burlington,  N.J.,  Sept.  15,  1789.  Father,  of  Quaker 
descent  and  a  congressman ;  mother,  of  Swedish  descent.  Family  set 
tled  in  Cooperstown,  N.Y.,  1790,  where  Mr.  Cooper  owned  much  land. 
Attended  the  village  school ;  then  became  the  private  pupil  of  an  Albany 
rector;  entered  Yale,  1802;  dismissed  for  participation  in  a  frolic,  1805. 
Served  before  the  mast  in  a  merchant  vessel,  1806-1807  ;  served  as  mid 
shipman  in  the  navy,  part  of  the  time  on  Lakes  Ontario  and  Champlain, 
1807-1811.  Married  Miss  DeLancey,  1811 ;  five  daughters  and  two  sons' 
were  born  to  him.  Resided  at  Mamaroneck,  1811-1814 ;  Cooperstown, 
1814-1817;  Scarsdale,  1817-1822;  New  York,  1822-1826.  Lived  in 
Europe,  chiefly  in  France  and  Italy,  1826-1833  I  consul  at  Lyons,  1826- 

1829.  Returned  to  America,  1833;  lived  by  turns  at  New  York  and  at 
Cooperstown.     Died  at  Cooperstown,  Sept.  14,  1851 ;   wife  died  four 
months  later.     An  Episcopalian. 

WORKS.  Precaution,  1820.  The  Spy,  1821.  The  Pioneers,  1823. 
The  Pilot,  1824  (imprint,  1823).  Lionel  Lincoln,  182^.  The  Last  of 
the~M6hicans,  1826.  The  Prairie,  1827.  The  Red  Rover,  1828.  The 
WepfoTWish-ton-Wish  (=The  Borderers),  1829.  The  Water-Witch, 

1830.  The  Bravo,   1831.     The  Heidenmauer,  1832.      The  Headsman, 
1833.     The   Monikins,   1835.      Homeward   Bound,   1838.      Home  as 


JAMES    FENIMORE    COOPER.  127 

American  novel  of  adventure.  His  early  life  was  an 
excellent  preparation  for  his  subsequent  career  as  an 
author.  His  childhood  was  passed  on  the  shores  of  the 
beautiful  Otsego  lake,  at  the  edge  of  the  primeval  forest, 
where  the  grandeur  and  wild  beauty  of  nature  in  the 
New  World  could  sink  their  impressions  deep  into  his 
youthful  imagination.  He  made  the  acquaintance  of 
trappers  and  old  Indian-fighters,  from  whom  he  heard 
many  a  thrilling  tale  and  gained  some  knowledge  of 
vvoodcraft.  He  knew  the  sailor's  life  on  the  ocean  and 
the  Great  Lakes  by  experience  as  a  common  seaman  and 
as  an  officer  in  the  navy.  He  was  thus  unwittingly 
acquiring  a  store  of  material  of  great  literary  value;  and 
his  three  years  at  college,  although  they  were  rather  idle 
ones,  must  have  given  him  some  literary  culture.  But 
for  a  long  time  the  thought  of  commencing  author  seems 
never  to  have  occurred  to  him.  He  married  young; 
resigned  from  the  navy  at  his  wife's  request;  and,  having 
inherited  a  comfortable  property,  settled  down  content 
edly  to  the  management  of  it  and  to  the  joys  of  family 

Found  (=Eve  Effingham),  1838.  The  History  of  the  Navy  of  the 
United  States  of  America,  1839  ;  abridged  edition,  1841.  The  Path 
finder,  1840.  Mercedes  of  Castile,  1840.  The  Deerslayer,  1841.  The 
Two  Admirals,  1842.  The  Wing-and-Wing  (—  The  Jack  o'  Lantern), 
1842.  Wyandotte,  1843.  Ned  Meyers  [the  life  of  one  of  Cooper's 
shipmates],  1843.  Afloat  and  Ashore,  1844.  Miles  Wallingford 
(=  Lucy  Hardinge)  [sequel  to  Afloat  and  Ashore],  1844.  Satanstoe, 
1845.  The  Chainbearer,  1846.  Lives  of  Distinguished  American 
Naval  Officers,  1846.  The  Redskins  (=  Ravensnest),  1846.  The 
Islets  of  the  Gulf,  1846-1848  in  Graham's  Magazine  ;  1848  in  book  form, 
as  Jack  Tier  (=  Captain  Spike).  The  Crater  (=  Mark's  Reef),  1847. 
The  Oak  Openings  (=  The  Bee  Hunter),  1848.  The  Sea  Lions,  1849. 
The  Ways  of  the  Hour,  1850.  The  titles  of  the  English  editions,  when 
they  differed  from  the  American,  are  given  in  parentheses.  Cooper 
also  wrote  several  tales  for  Graham's  Magazine,  ten  volumes  of  travels, 
and  a  good  deal  of  controversial  matter. 


128      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

life.  He  was  thirty  years  old  before  he  wrote  his  first 
novel,  and  even  then  his  plunge  into  the  literary  life 
was  the  result  of  accident  and  caprice.  One  day,  while 
reading  an  English  novel  to  his  wife,  he  suddenly  stopped 
and  said,  "  I  believe  I  could  write  a  better  story  myself." 
A  challenge  to  do  so  aroused  him  to  the  attempt,  and 
the  result  was  Precaution,  a  dull  novel  of  English  life, 
teaching  the  need  of  care  in  entering  upon  matrimony. 
The  book  was  a  failure,  and  deserved  to  be.  Still,  it 
showed  some  promise,  and  his  friends  urged  him  to 
try  again.  They  counselled  well,  for  The  Spy  was  an 
immense  success,  and  made  its  author  famous  at  home 
and  abroad. 

Cooper  now  removed  to  New  York  City,  where  he 
became  a  prominent  figure  and  founded  a  club,  to  which 
Bryant,  Halleck,  Verplanck,  Chancellor  Kent,  and  other 
brilliant  men  belonged.  The  novels  which  he  put  forth 
with  a  rapidity  rivalling  Scott's  raised  his  reputation 
higher  and  higher.1  The  income  from  their  sale  repaired 
his  somewhat  damaged  fortune,  and  enabled  him  to  take 
an  extended  European  tour  with  his  family.  In  Paris 
he  received  the  most  flattering  attentions  from  the  leaders 
of  society;  Scott  in  his  diary  for  November  6,  1826, 
speaking  of  a  gathering  at  the  Princess  Galitzin's,  says, 
"Cooper  was  there,  so  the  Scotch  and  American  lions 
took  the  field  together."  Cooper  was  charmed  with 
French  society,  and  the  skies  and  scenery  of  Italy  he 
passionately  loved.  But  he  was  the  same  sturdy  patriot 


1  "  I  dined  yesterday  ...  in  a  company  of  authors.  .  .  .  Mr. 
Cooper  engrossed  the  whole  conversation,  and  seems  a  little  giddy 
with  the  great  success  his  works  have  met  with."  —  Letter  by  Bryant, 
April  24,  1824,  in  his  life  by  Godwin,  Vol.  I.,  p.  189. 


JAMES    FENIMORE    COOPER.  129 

as  before.  European,  and  especially  English,  criticism 
of  the  United  States,  often  ignorant,  prejudiced,  or 
condescending,  aroused  all  the  fighter  in  him,  and  in 
works  of  fiction1  and  public  letters  he  took  up  cudgels 
for  his  country.  He  soon  got  himself  cordially  hated, 
and  even  some  American  newspapers  censured  him 
severely  for  "flouting  his  Americanism  throughout 
Europe."  Thus  wounded  in  the  house  of  his  friends 
while  fighting  their  battles,  Cooper  returned  to  America 
after  seven  years'  absence,  aggrieved  and  irritated. 
Contrasting  the  United  States  with  the  older  civilization 
of  Europe,  he  found  much  that  needed  correction,  and 
he  went  at  the  work  with  his  favorite  blunt-headed 
weapon.  He  speedily  had  a  hornets'  nest  about  his 
ears;  but  it  was  not  in  him  to  run.  For  years  the  lion- 
hearted  fellow  —  would  that  he  had  also  had  the  wisdom 
of  the  serpent !  —  did  battle  almost  single-handed  with 
the  press  of  America,  even  carrying  the  matter  into  the 
courts,  where  he  won  suit  after  suit  for  libel.  It  was  a 
ruffling  and  fruitless  quarrel.  But  although  it  embit 
tered  Cooper's  later  years  and  absorbed  much  of  his  vast 
energy,  it  did  not  prevent  him  from  doing  a  deal  of 
other  work,  including  two  of  his  best  novels.  His  last 
days  he  spent  almost  wholly  in  the  beautiful  region  of 
his  childhood,  busy  with  labors  and  projects,  and 
blessed  in  the  domestic  love  which,  like  oil  on  troubled 
waters,  spread  a  circle  of  calm  around  the  old  sailor 
and  fighter  even  when  his  voyage  was  stormiest.  The 
end  came  somewhat  suddenly  at  last,  his  vigorous 
constitution  breaking  down  at  several  points  simul- 

1  Notions  of  the  Americans  (1828),    77^6'  Bravo,    The  Heidenmaner, 
The  Headsman. 
K 


130      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

taneously;  but  in  his  sixty-two  years  he  had  lived  much 
and  well. 

Of  Cooper's  thirty-two  novels  not  more  than  half  have 
ever  been  much  read,  and  eight  are  far  superior  to  all 
the  rest.  The  reasons  for  the  inferiority  of  the  poorer 
works  are  obvious.  There  was  a  brilliant  story-teller  in 
Cooper,  but  there  was  also  a  prosy  moralist  and  reformer; 
and  when  circumstances  called  the  latter  to  the  front, 
it  went  hard  with  the  story-teller.  Thus  in  The  Heiden- 
mauer,  The  Manikins,  and  The  Redskins,  three  of  the 
worst  novels,  the  narrative  is  insufferably  tedious,  while 
the  satire  is  heavy  and  the  ideas  uninteresting.  The 
same  preaching  tendency  is  responsible  for  those  in 
terminable  reflections  and  conversations  which  come 
between  scenes  of  thrilling  action  in  IVing-and-Wing, 
Afloat  and  Ashore,  Homeward  Bound,  and  other  novels 
with  a  good  story.  Furthermore,  Cooper's  inability  to 
get  under  way  quickly,  to  make  love  affairs  interesting, 
and  to  handle  humorous  characters  successfully  —  limita 
tions  which  injure  even  his  best  novels  —  are  simply  fatal 
to  those  in  which  the  compensating  merits  are  few  or 
altogether  wanting. 

Of  the  eight  novels  which  by  common  consent  are 
much  the  best,  The  Pilot  and  The  Red  Rover  are  stories 
of  the  sea.  Cooper's  originality  here  is  not  substantially 
lessened  by  the  fact  that  it  was  Scott's  The  Pirate  which, 
by  its  defects,  set  him  to  writing  The  Pilot ;  for  the 
American  sailor  not  only  used  sea-lingo  more  accurately 
and  fully  than  the  Scotch  landsman  had,  but  he  also 
made  the  plot  turn  and  the  interest  depend  chiefly  upon 
the  events  at  sea.  In  this  very  true  sense  Cooper  was 
the  creator  of  the  sea-novel;  and  he  is  never  more  in 


JAMES    FENIMORE    COOPER.  131 

his  element  than  when  once  fairly  afloat  with  a  good  ship 
under  him,  a  storm  brewing  on  the  horizon,  a  corvette 
or  a  wicked  but  interesting  pirate  coming  up  rapidly  on 
the  weather-bow,  an  old  tar  drawing  the  long-bow  in  the 
forecastle,  and  the  weather-beaten  captain  or  mysterious 
pilot  preparing  to  execute  some  manoeuvre  which  shall 
outwit  elements  and  enemy  alike.  In  scenes  of  storm 
and  of  battle  Cooper  is  nothing  less  than  great.  He 
has  an  apparently  inexhaustible  store  of  incidents,  for 
his  marine  adventures  are  as  varied  as  they  are  interest 
ing.  He  describes  nautical  movements  with  enough 
precision  and  detail  to  give  the  landsman  an  agreeable 
sense  of  novelty  and  a  comfortable  assurance  that  the 
thing  was  properly  done,  yet  avoids  that  excess  of  tech 
nical  language  which  only  perplexes  and  fatigues.  And 
he  succeeds  in  making  one  realize  something  of  the  true 
sailor's  love  for  the  sea  and  for  his  vessel;  we  groan 
with  Long  Tom  as  the  Ariel  drives  to  her  death  on  a  lea 
shore.  But  his  best  sea-characters  are  not  interesting 
merely  because  they  are  sailors.  They  are  also  real  and 
true  men.  The  lank  Yankee  tar,  with  a  hitch  to  his 
trousers  and  a  crotchet  in  his  head,  as  good  at  spinning 
a  yarn  or  criticising  the  tactics  of  his  superior  as  at 
splicing  a  rope  or  coolly  manning  a  gun  in  the  heat  of 
action;  the  rough  sailing-master,  who  maybe  swears  too 
much,  but  takes  tender  care  of  his  old  mother  on  shore 
and  dies  with  his*  thoughts  divided  between  her  and  his 
duties;  the  bluff  captain,  cheerily  concealing  his  anxiety, 
in  time  of  peril,  from  the  delicate  women  committed  to 
his  care;  the  gallant  young  naval  officer,  American  or 
English,  who  manfully  risks  life  and  love  in  his  country's 
cause,  —  these  and  other  sea- types  live  vividly  in  Cooper's 


132      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

pages;    and   the  reader  is  braver  and  more  generous- 
hearted  for  knowing  them. 

The  Spy  stands  somewhat  by  itself,  being  more  strictly 
a  historical  novel  than  any  other  of  the  best  eight.1  Its 
portrait  of  Washington  is  hardly  recognizable;  but  its 
sympathetic  pictures  of  the  embarrassing  position  of  a 
mild  Tory,-  and  of  the  lawless  border-warfare,  are  true 
to  the  times.  The  chief  interest  of  the  book,  however, 
centres  in  Harvey  Birch,  the  spy,  who  is  one  of  the 
author's  best  portraitures  for  the  pathos  of  his  situation 
and  the  moral  dignity  of  his  character.3  But  Cooper's 
most  distinctive  work  is  his  Leatherstocking  tales.4  He 
was  the  creator  of  the  novel  of  Indian  adventure,  and 
his  followers  are  not  his  rivals.  He  was  fortunate  in 
being  near  enough  to  the  life  of  Indian  and  trapper 
without  being  too  near;  in  consequence,  he  could  make 
his  scenes  and  actors  at  once  lifelike  and  ideal.  He 
was  also  fortunate  in  his  temperament.  There  was  a 
vein  of  large  poetry  in  him,  which  enabled  him  to  paint 

1  The  story  of  the  spy  himself  is  founded  upon  fact,  Cooper  getting 
it  from   John  Jay.      Of  the   poorer   novels,  Satanstoe  gives   a  faithful 
picture  of  colonial  life  in  New  York  at  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  and  describes  scenes  connected  with  Abercrombie's  defeat  on 
Lake  George  in  1758  ;  Mercedes  deals  with  the  first  voyage  of  Columbus. 

2  Cooper's  wife  came  of  a  Tory  family. 

^  8  The  Spy  was  soon  translated  into  all  the  principal  languages  of 
Europe.  It  is  on  record  that  a  distinguished  French  spy  under  Louis 
Philippe  drew  his  inspiration  from  the  example  of  Birch.  In  a  book  on 
Nicaragua,  published  the  year  after  Cooper's  death,  the  author  says 
that  The  Spy  "  seems  to  be  better  known  in  Spanish  America  than  any 
other  work  in  the  English  language  ;  I  found  it  everywhere."  See 
Lounsbury's  life  of  Cooper,  pp.  37,  38. 

4  The  Deerslayer,  The  Last  of  the  Mohicans,  The  Pathfinder,  The 
Pioneers,  The  Prairie.  This  order,  which  is  the  chronological  one  with 
reference  to  the  life  of  Leatherstocking,  is  easily  remembered  by  the 
fact  that  the  titles  follow  the  order  of  the  alphabet. 


JAMES    FENLMORE   COOPER.  133 

nature  in  the  New  World  with  a  powerful  brush  —  the 
beauty  of  the  wood-encircled  lake,  the  grandeur  and 
solitude  of  the  unpeopled  forest,  the  oceanlike  ex 
panse  of  the  prairie.  He  was  also,  like  his  great  con 
temporary  Scott,  a  natural  fighter,  and  flung  himself  with 
robust  joy  into  descriptions  of  deadly  peril  and  hair 
breadth  escapes.  It  is  the  abundance  of  thrilling  incident 
in  these  novels  that  gives  them  their  absorbing  interest, 
and  criticisms  upon  their  faults  in  other  respects  conse 
quently  fall  to  the  ground.  We  forgive  the  young  men 
for  their  insipid  love-making,  because  they  fight  so  well. 
We  forgive  the  "females"  for  their  lovely  helplessness, 
since  they  exist  merely  to  be  rescued.  We  perhaps 
ought  to  forgive  Leatherstocking  for  his  ill-timed  gar 
rulity,  —  although  most  of  us  probably  do  not,  —  seeing 
that  it  is  our  interest  in  his  daring,  coolness,  and  skill 
which  makes  us  impatient  of  his  philosophy.  But  it 
would  be  unjust  to  Cooper  to  imply  that  none  of  his 
land-characters  are  interesting  in  themselves.  Chingach- 
gook  and  Uncas  awake  admiration  for  their  noble  quali 
ties;  The  Last  of  the  Mohicans  is  made  really  tragic  by 
the  pathetic  death  of  the  young  chief.  Cooper's  good 
Indians  may  never  have  existed  outside  his  pages;  but 
as  ideal  figures  they  are  certainly  interesting  inside  his 
pages,  and  for  a  romancer  that  is  the  main  thing.1 
Leatherstocking  is  the  greatest  of  the  author's  creations. 

1  There  is  no  need  to  renew  the  controversy  about  the  truthfulness 
of  Cooper's  delineation  of  Indian  character ;  the  topic  is  already  as 
bald  as  if  the  Big  Serpent  had  passed  his  knife  around  the  head  of  it. 
But  the  reader  may  at  least  be  reminded  that  Cooper  knew  and  studied 
Indians,  and  that  he  represented  most  of  them  as  drunken,  cruel,  and 
treacherous ;  if  therefore  he  endowed  a  few  with  qualities  not  in  fact 
possessed  by  any,  he  doubtless  did  it  deliberately  as  a  legitimate  device 
of  the  romancer's  art. 


134      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815   TO    1870. 

Not  the  least  of  his  merits  as  a  figure  in  the  novels  is 
the  deep  and  poetic  harmony  which  exists  between  his 
nature  and  the  vast  solitudes  in  which  he  lives.  He  is 
a  middle  term  between  civilization  and  nature;  the 
buckskin  hamadryad  of  the  New  World;  an  American 
Pan,  with  a  Christian  soul  instead  of  heathen  hoofs. 
The  consistency  with  which  his  character  is  maintained 
is  surprising,  especially  when  one  remembers  that  the 
last  novel  in  which  he  appears  was  written  eighteen  years 
after  the  first.  The  difficulty  was  further  increased  by 
the  fact  that  he  was  first  conceived  as  an  old  man,  and 
his  youth  described  last  of  all,  while  the  other  periods 
of  his  life  were  filled-in  in  very  erratic  order.  Yet  he  is 
fundamentally  the  same  man  from  beginning  to  end,  the 
secondary  differences  caused  by  differences  in  age  and 
situation  making  the  portrayal  only  the  more  deeply 
consistent.  The  Pioneers  is  the  poorest  of  the  series; 
for  Cooper's  interest  in  the  scenes  of  his  youth  led  him 
into  too  much  description  at  the  start,  and  the  subse 
quent  action  is  comparatively  tame.  The  Pathfinder 
suffers  a  good  deal  from  the  clumsy  humor,  the  tedious 
dialogues  on  love  and  religion,  and  Pathfinder's  un 
natural  role  as  a  lover;  but  the  running  the  gauntlet 
into  the  fort  and  the  scenes  on  the  island  are  superb. 
"Its  interest  is  tremendous,"  said  Balzac.  The  Last  of 
the  Mohicans  will  probably  always  be  the  favorite  with 
the  majority  of  readers,  for  its  almost  uninterrupted  rush 
of  thrilling  incident.  But  The  Decrslayer  has  an  un 
rivalled  freshness  in  its  pictures  of  nature  and  of  the 
young  hunter  and  the  young  brave;  and  in  The  Prairie 
the  account  of  the  squatter's  grim  justice  and  of  the 
quickening  of  his  own  conscience  contains  a  moral 


JAMES   FENIMORE   COOPER.  135 

depth  and  a  stern  strength  not  elsewhere  seen,  while  the 
tranquil  death  of  the  aged  hunter  has  an  autumnal 
beauty. 

Cooper  is  the  only  American  author  who  has  been 
widely  read  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  and  he  is  a 
worthy  representative  of  the  largeness  and  primitive 
vigor  of  life  in  the  New  World.  The  romance  of  the 
American  forest  and  prairie,  of  the  American  Indian, 
hunter,  scout,  and  pioneer,  allures  cultured  and  uncul 
tured  alike  through  his  pages;  and  in  the  successive 
removes  of  Leatherstocking,  as  he  retreats  before  the 
westward-setting  tide  of  civilization,  may  be  read  the 
New  World's  epic  of  action  in  the  conquest  of  a  conti 
nent.  But  the  culture,  the  deeper  thought,  the  humor, 
and  many  other  phases  of  American  life  are  poorly,  or 
not  at  all,  represented  in  Cooper's  writings.  His  work 
manship  is  careless.  His  style  at  its  best  has  rapid 
motion  and  rich  color  —  the  two  qualities  most  needed 
in  the  semi-historical  novel  of  action;  but  it  is  un 
polished,  and  often  slipshod,  heavy,  and  diffuse.  In 
the  conduct  of  the  story  he  shows  much  skill,  espe 
cially  in  single  scenes,  excelling  in  the  art  of  prolonged 
and  breathless  suspense.1  His  character-drawing  is 
primitive  in  method  and  narrow  in  range.  A  few 

1  A  favorite  method  with  him  is  to  open  with  a  series  of  exciting 
events,  which  have  a  certain  unity  by  themselves ;  a  short  lull  follows,. 
after  which  the  main  action  begins.  The  method  allows  of  variety  and 
length  of  action  without  fatigue,  and  the  first  series  of  incidents  also 
serves  to  make  the  reader  acquainted  with  the  characters,  so  that  in  the 
main  action  they  have  an  added  interest  as  old  and  well-tried  friends. 
In  The  Pathfinder  the  preliminary  action  ends  with  the  entrance  into 
the  fort ;  in  The  Prairie,  with  the  squatter's  gaining  possession  of  the 
rock ;  in  The  Pilot,  with  the  ship's  escape  from  the  breakers  ;  in  The  Red 
Rover,  with  the  shipwreck  of  the  hero  and  heroine  and  their  rescue  by 
the  Rover. 


136      THE   LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

simple  and  noble  types  he  could  depict  admirably; 
for  the  rest,  he  resorted  to  pasteboard  and  the  shears, 
or  set  a  wooden  manikin  to  capering  stiff-jointedly 
in  most  doleful-merry  fashion.1  He  has  been  often 
compared  to  Scott.  The  points  of  likeness  are  ob 
vious.  But  the  two  men  were,  after  all,  very  different, 
and  the  American  novelist  is  on  the  whole  decidedly 
inferior.  He  is  the  equal  of  the  Scotchman,  if  not  his 
superior,  in  feeling  for  the  large  aspects  of  nature,  in 
pictures  of  sea-life,  and  in  rapid,  intense  action.  But 
the  Wizard  of  the  North  is  superior  in  style,  in  humor, 
in  pathos,  in  command  of  the  uncanny  and  supernatu 
ral,  in  character-portrayal,  and  in  power  and  sweep  of 
imagination.  Nevertheless,  Cooper  in  his  own  more 
limited  field  is  great;  and  his  genius  is  more  dis 
tinctively  American  than  that  of  either  of  his  two  im 
mediate  predecessors  in  prose  fiction. 

WILLIAM  CULLEN  BRYANT2  came  of  the  purest  New 

1  One  phase  of  his  careless  workmanship  is  his  suddenly  thrusting 
some  mannerism  of  speech  into  the  mouth  of  a  character  and  making 
him  thenceforth  use  it  continually;  thus  Cap,  in  The  Pathfinder,  is  pre 
sented  with  the  word  "circumstances"  in  Chapter  XIII.,  and  thence 
forth  harps  upon  it  continually  to  the  end  of  the  book.     Consistency 
of  character  is  sometimes  sacrificed  to  the  needs  of  the  plot,  as  when 
Sergeant   Dunham  and  Cap,   in  the  same  novel,  are  suddenly  made 
hyper-suspicious  of  Jasper  Western,  because  the  action  required  that 
he  should  be  deprived  of  his  command. 

2  LIFE.     Born   in   Cummington,   Mass.,   Nov.   3,   1794.     Attended 
district  school ;    studied  Latin  and  Greek  with  two  clergymen ;   spent 
seven  months  at  Williams  College  as  a  sophomore,  1810-1811 ;  studied 
law  at  Worthington  and  Bridgewater,  1811-1815.     Adjutant  in  militia, 
1816-1817.     Practised   law   at   Plainfield,    1816  ;    at  Great    Barrington, 
1816-1825.      Married   Frances    Fairchild,    1811;    two   daughters   were 
born  to  him.      Editor  of  The  New  York  Review,  1825-1826;  an  editor 
and   part   owner   of    The   United  States   Review,   1826-1827;  assistant 
editor  of  the  New  York  Evening  Post,  1826-1829;  editor-in-chief,  with 
partial    ownership,     1829-1878.       Visited     Illinois,    1832,   1841,    1846; 


WILLIAM   CULLEN    BRYANT.  137 

England  stock,  one  of  his  paternal  ancestors  having  set 
tled  in  Massachusetts  about  1632,  and  his  mother  being  a 
descendant  of  John  Alden.  The  poet  spent  the  first  thirty 
years  of  his  life  in  Massachusetts,  where  he  wrote  many 
of  his  best  poems;  but  for  half  a  century  he  lived  in  New 


the  South,  1843,  1873;  Europe,  1834-1836,  1845,  ^49,  I8S7-i858,  1866- 
1867;  Cuba,  1849;  Europe  and  the  Orient,  1852-1853;  West  Indies 
and  Mexico,  1872.  Bought  estate  near  Roslyn,  Long  Island,  1843;  the 
old  homestead  at  Cummington,  1865.  Wife  died,  1865.  Gave  public 
library  to  Cummington,  1872.  Died  in  New  York  City,  June  12,  1878; 
buried  at  Roslyn.  A  Unitarian. 

WORKS.    The  Embargo,  1808 ;  second  edition,  1809,  with  "  The  Span 
ish  Revolution  "  and  other  poems.     Poems,  1821  —  "  The  Ages, Fo  a 

Waterfowl,"  "  Fragment  from  Simonides,"  "  Inscription  for  the  Entrance 
to  a  Wood,"  "  The  Yellow  Violet,"  "  Song  "  (Soon  as  the  glazed,  etc.), 
"Green  River,"  "  Thanatopsis."  Poems,  1832  —  included  eighty-two 
new  poems:  "Forest  Hymn,"  "The  Rivulet,"  "The  Massacre  at 
Scio,"  "Monument  Mountain,"  "Song  of  Marion's  Men,"  "The 
Hurricane,"  "  Summer  Wind,"  "  A  Winter  Piece,"  "  Oh  Fairest  of  the 
Rural  Maids,"  "June,"  "To  the  Fringed  Gentian,"  "To  a  Cloud," 
"After  a  Tempest,"  "  Lines  on  Revisiting  the  Country,"  "The  Death 
of  the  Flowers,"  etc. ;  reprinted,  London,  1832.  "  Medfield "  and 
"The  Skeleton's  Cave,"  in  Tales  of  the  Glauber  Spa,  1832.  Poems, 
1834  —  included  four  new  poems  :  "The  Prairie,"  etc.  Poems,  1836  — 
included  twelve  new  poems:  "The  Living  Lost,"  "Earth,"  "The 
Hunter  of  the  Prairies,"  etc.  The  Fountain  and  Other  Poems,  1842  — 
consisted  of  fifteen  new  poems:  "The  Green  Mountain  Boys,"  "An 
Evening  Reverie,"  "The  Painted  Cup,"  "The  Antiquity  of  Freedom," 
etc.  The  White-Footed  Deer  and  Other  Poems,  1844 —  consisted  of  ten 
new  poems  :  "  Noon,"  "  The  Crowded  Street,"  "  A  Summer  Ramble," 
"  A  Hymn  of  the  Sea,"  etc. ;  reprinted,  with  the  previous  poems,  as 
The  Poetical  Works,  London,  1844.  Poems,  1847  —  included  two  new 
poems.  Letters  of  a  Traveller,  1850  ;  second  series,  1859.  Poems, 
1854 — included  ten  new  poems:  "The  Unknown  Way,"  "Oh  Mother 
of  a  Mighty  Race,"  "The  Land  of  Dreams,"  "The  Snow-Shower," 
"A  Rain  Dream,"  "Robert  of  Lincoln,"  etc.  Thirty  Poems,  1863 
(imprint,  1864)  —  included  twenty-seven  new  poems  :  "  The  Planting 
of  the  Apple  Tree,"  "  The  Wind  and  Stream,"  "  The  Song  of  the 
Sower,"  "The  Cloud  on  the  Way,"  "The  Tides,"  "A  Day  Dream," 
"  Waiting  by  the  Gate,"  "  Sella,"  "  The  Little  People  of  the  Snow,"  etc. 
Letters  from  the  East,  1869.  Translation  of  the  Iliad,  1870.  Transla 
tion  of  the  Odyssey,  1871-1872.  Orations  and  Addresses,  1873. 


138      THE    LITERATURE    FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

York,  and  may  therefore  most  conveniently  be  classed 
with  the  Knickerbocker  school.     His  early  surroundings 
were  favorable  for  the  development  of  a  poet  of  nature. 
In  natural  beauty  western  Massachusetts  resembles  the 
English    lake    district,— streams,    lakes,    valleys,    and 
mountains  combining  into  a  whole  of  singular  variety 
and  charm;    it   is  no  wonder  that  the  boy  was  from 
"  earliest  years  a  delighted  observer  of  external  nature."  ] 
Nor  was  the  stimulus  of  books  wanting.     Bryant's  father, 
a  physician  and  a  state  legislator,  was  a  man  of  literary 
tastes,  writing  respectable  verse  himself,  and  his  library 
was  pretty  well  stocked  with  the  best  English  writers. 
The  poet  was  precocious,  knowing  his  letters  at  sixteen 
months  and  writing  verses  at  eight  years,  while    The 
Embargo  was  an  astonishing  performance  for  a  green 
country  lad   of   thirteen.2     He  was  an  ardent  student. 
Greek  fascinated  him,  and  he  made  rapid  progress  in  it. 
His  father's  circumstances  not  allowing  him,  however, 
to  complete  a  college  course,  he  gave  himself  with  fidelity 
to  the  study  of  the  law.     But  nature  and  poetry  were  his 
deepest  love,  and  he  could  not  forego  them  altogether. 
It  was  just  as  he  was  about  to  begin  his  law  studies  that 
he  wrote  Thanatopsis ;  in  the  autumn  of  1811;  and  four 
years  later,  climbing  the  hills  at  sunset  to  his  first  place 
of  trial  as  a  practitioner  of  the  law,  he  saw  a  waterfowl 
"darkly  painted  on  the  crimson  sky,"  and  his  law  career 
began  with  an  immortal  poem  written  that  very  night. 
An  unfortunate  love  affair  threw  a  dark  cloud  over  him 

1  Autobiography,  in  Godwin's  life  of  Bryant,  Vol.  I.,  p.  25. 

2  In  early  years  he  was  accustomed,  he  says,  to  pray  to  God  "with 
great  fervor "  that  he  "  might  receive  the   gift   of  poetic   genius,  and 
write  verses  that  might  endure."  — Autobiography,  in  Godwin's  life  of 
Bryant,  Vol.  I.,  p.  26. 


WILLIAM    CULLEN    BRYANT.  139 

for  awhile  during  his  legal  studies;  but  it  passed  away, 
and  a  letter  written  in  1814  shows  that  the  author  of 
Thanatopsis  was  not  above  enjoying  balls  and  sailing- 
parties.  The  War  of  1812  meantime  was  becoming 
more  and  more  unpopular  in  New  England,  and  talk 
of  secession  was  not  uncommon.  The  future  editor  of 
The  Evening  Post  and  author  of  Not  Yet  was  a  rather 
warm  secessionist  in  those  days,  joining  the  militia  "for 
the  defence  of  the  state  "  in  case  it  should  be  necessary 
to  resist  the  central  government.1  But  the  muse,  and 
not  Bellona,  was  about  to  bring  him  fame.  Doctor  Bryant 
had  discovered  the  manuscript  of  Thanatopsis  and  of  a 
few  other  poems,  hidden  in  the  pigeon-holes  of  a  desk; 
and  when  his  friend  Phillips,  one  of  the  editors  of  The 
North  American  Review,  asked  him  for  a  contribution 
from  his  talented  son,  he  sent  Thanatopsis  and  the 
Inscription  for  the  Entrance  to  a  Wood.  Both  poems 
appeared  in  the  Review  for  September,  1817,  and  were 
recognized  by  the  judicious  as  the  best  poetry  that  had 
yet  been  published  in  America.2  Bryant  now  became 
an  occasional  contributor  in  verse  and  prose  to  The 
North  American  Review  and  to  Dana's  The  Idle  Man  ; 
and  in  1825  he  threw  up  the  law  altogether,  although  he 
was  now  getting  some  reputation  in  it,3  and,  removing 

1  "  The  force  now  to  be  organized  may  not  be  altogether  employed 
against  a  foreign  enemy  ;  it  may  become  necessary  to  wield  it  against  an 
intestine  foe."     "  It  will  be  time  enough  [next  June]  to  tell  the  world 
that  the  original  compact  between  the  States  is  dissolved  [I.e.,  if  it  should 
then  be  necessary]."  —  Bryant's  letters  in  1814  and  1815,  in  Godwin's 
life  of  him,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  129,  135. 

2  When  R.  H.  Dana  heard  Thanatopsis  read  from  manuscript,  he 
said,  "  Phillips,  you  have  been  imposed  upon  ;  no  one  on  this  side  of 
the   Atlantic   is   capable   of  writing   such   verses."  —  Godwin's   life  of 
Bryant,  Vol.  I.,  p.  150. 

3  He   was   called   to   argue   cases   at   New   Haven   and  before   the 
Supreme  Court  at  Boston. 


140      THE   LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

to  New  York,  began  that  long  editorial  career  which 
was  to  end  only  with  his  life.  It  is  not  necessary  to 
follow  it  in  detail.  As  editor  of  the  Post,  which  he 
conducted  with  great  ability  and  high  principle,  he 
wielded  a  steadily  increasing  influence.  He  became  in 
time  the  foremost  citizen  of  New  York,  universally  re 
spected  and  in  his  old  age  revered.  The  increasing  pros 
perity  of  his  newspaper  enabled  him  to  take  those  many 
foreign  trips  which  broadened  his  view  without  in  the 
least  diminishing  his  deep  and  intelligent  Americanism. 
It  also  surrounded  him  and  his  loved  ones  with  abundant 
comforts  in  declining  years,  and  helped  to  prolong  his 
days,  in  moderate  toil,  to  an  age  reached  in  such  vigor 
by  very  few  among  the  sons  of  men.  And  when  at  last 
he  fell,  he  fell  as  the  granite  column  falls,  smitten  from 
without,  but  sound  within.1 

Bryant's  hale  old  age  was  due  in  part  to  heredity,  his 
ancestors  being  famous  for  longevity  and  strength.2  But 
in  youth  he  was  puny,  and  throughout  most  of  his  life 
he  subjected  himself  to  a  careful  regimen  in  food,  drink, 
and  exercise.3  Mr.  Godwin  gives  this  picture  of  him  at 

1  On  May  29  the  wonderful  old  man,  then  in  his  eighty-fourth  year, 
made  an  address  in  Central  Park  at  the  raising  of  a  statue  to  Mazzini, 
the  Italian  patriot.     His  uncovered  head  was  for  a  time  exposed  to  the 
full  glare  of  the  sun.      Shortly  after,  while  entering  a  house,  he  fell 
backward,  striking  his  head  upon  the  stone  steps;  concussion  of  the 
brain  and  paralysis  resulted. 

2  The  poet  says  of  his  father,  "  He  would  take  up  a  barrel  of  cider 
and  lift  it  into  a  cart  over  the  wheel."  — Godwin's  life  of  Bryant,  Vol.  I., 

P-3- 

3  He  thus  described  his  manner  of  life  at  seventy-seven :    "  I  rise 
early,  .  .  .  about  half-past  five;  in  summer  half  an  hour,  or  even  an 
hour,   earlier.      Immediately,  ...  I   begin  a  series   of  exercises.  .  .  . 
These  are  performed  with  dumb-bells,  .  .  .  with  a  pole,  and  a  light 
chair  swung  round  my  head.     After  a   full    hour  .  .  .  passed  in  this 
manner,  I  bathe  from  head  to  foot.  .  .  .     Animal  food  I  never  take  at 


WILLIAM   CULLEN    BRYANT.  141 

middle  age :  "He  was  of  ...  medium  height,  spare 
in  figure,  with  a  clean-shaven  face,  unusually  large  head, 
bright  eyes,  and  a  wearied,  severe,  almost  saturnine  ex 
pression  of  countenance.  One,  however,  remarked  at 
once  the  exceeding  gentleness  of  his  manner,  and  a  rare 
sweetness  in  the  tone  of  his  voice,  as  well  as  an  extraor 
dinary  purity  in  his  selection  and  pronunciation  of 
English."1  In  old  age  he  had  the  look  of  a  Hebrew 
prophet.  With  a  reference  to  this  majesty  of  appearance 
and  the  yet  greater  majesty  of  his  high  soul,  George 
William  Curtis  said  :  "We  saw  in  his  life  the  simple 
dignity  which  we  associate  with  the  old  republics.  So 
Lycurgus  may  have  ruled  in  Sparta,  so  Cato  may  have 
walked  in  Rome  —  an  uncrowned  regality  in  that  vener 
able  head."'2  Yet  with  all  his  great  qualities,  Bryant  has 
been  accused  of  being  cold.  Hawthorne  found  him  so.3 
Even  as  a  young  man  he  had  a  certain  reserve,  which 
allowed  of  no  familiarities.  He  did  not  wear  his  heart 
on  his  sleeve,  and  he  could  not  tolerate  gush.  But  those 
who  knew  him  intimately  found  "hidden  depths  of  feel 
ing  "  under  his  "calm  and  unimpassioned  manner";4 

breakfast.  Tea  and  coffee  I  never  touch  at  any  time.  .  .  .  After 
breakfast  I  occupy  myself  for  a  while  with  my  studies;  and  when  in 
town  I  walk  down  to  the  office  of  the  '  Evening  Post,"  nearly  three  miles 
distant,  and  after  about  three  hours  return,  always  walking,  whatever  be 
the  weather  or  the  state  of  the  streets.  ...  In  the  country  I  dine  early, 
.  .  .  making  my  dinner  mostly  of  vegetable.  .  .  .  My  drink  is  water, 
yet  I  sometimes,  though  rarely,  take  a  glass  of  wine."  —  Godwin's  life 
of  Bryant,  Vol.  II.,  pp.  297-298. 

1  Life  of  Bryant,  Vol.  I.,  p.  334. 

2  Commemorative  address   on  Bryant,  in   Orations  and  Addresses, 
Vol.  III.,  p.  360. 

3  "  A  very  pleasant  man  to  associate  with,  but  rather  cold,  I  should 
imagine,  if  one  should  seek  to  touch  his   heart  with  one's   own."  — 
French  and  Italian  Note-Books,  May  22,  1858. 

4  Godwin's  life  of  Bryant,  Vol.  II.,  p.  309. 


142      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

his  home  life  was  beautiful;  and  his  friendships,  though 
few,  were  strong  and  lasting.1  Yet  intellect  and  abstract 
principle  were  a  large  part  of  his  nature,  and  Haw 
thorne's  amended  phrase  states  the  case  well:  "He  is 
not  eminently  an  affectionate  man."2 

Bryant  wrote  excellent  prose.  His  letters  of  travel, 
full  of  keen  observation,  are  written  in  delightful  Eng 
lish.  He  developed  a  peculiar  talent  for  commemora 
tive  addresses,  the  one  on  Washington  Irving  being 
perhaps  the  most  notable.  His  tales  were  less  success 
ful,  as  he  had  not  much  narrative  gift.  He  is  famous 
chiefly  as  a  poet  of  nature.  Yet  other  elements  appear 
frequently  in  his  verse  — the  Indians;  freedom,  slavery, 
and  war;  love;  the  fanciful  and  the  supernatural;  medi 
tations  on  life  and  death.  In  a  few  poems  he  attempted 
humor,  but  his  Mayflower  ancestry  laid  heavy  hands 
upon  it.3  His  treatment  of  love,  also,  is  slight  and 
incidental.  Of  the  lines  suggested  by  slavery,  freedom, 
and  war,  only  the  Song  of  Marion's  Men  allures  to  many 
re -readings;  in  that  one  hears  the  very  gallop  of  those 
light-heeled  troopers,  making  half  a  holiday  of  their 

1  His  intimacy  with  R.  H.  Dana  was  lifelong.      Upon  first  going  to 
New  York,  he  became  one  of  the  little  circle  of  literati  and  artists  who 
soon  formed  themselves  into  "  The  Sketch  Club,"  successor  to  Cooper's 
"  Bread  and  Cheese  Lunch  "  and  forerunner  of  "  The  Century  Club." 
Yet  Mr.  Godwin  says  that  when  he  first  became  acquainted  with  the 
poet,  in  1836,  he  "  was  surprised  to  observe  how  few  habitual  visitors  he 
seemed  to  have,"  and  that  "  this  seclusion  was  due  partly  to  choice," 
but  that  in  later  years  "  he  began  to  feel  more  and  more  the  need  of 
intimate  associations,"  and  in  old  age  his  friends  observed  "how  he 
had  mellowed  with  time,  the  irritabilities  of  his  earlier  days  had  been 
wholly  overcome,  his  reluctance  to  mingle  with  men  was  quite  gone." 
—  Life  of  Bryant,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  335,  336,  408,  Vol.  II.,  p.  390. 

2  French  and  Italian  Note-Books,  June  9,  1858. 

3  About  the  year  1823,  Bryant  even  wrote  a  farce,  The  Heroes,  in 
ridicule  of  duelling,  and  tried  in  vain  to  get  it  staged  in  New  York. 


WILLIAM    CULLEN   BRYANT.  143 

plucky  and  picturesque  fight  for  freedom.  The  Indian 
poems  are  not  very  successful.  It  is  difficult  to  realize 
the  woes  of  an  Indian  who  says  "  methinks  "  and  describes 
the  white  man's  coach-and-four  in  the  manner  of  a  Queen 
Anne  poetaster :  — 

And  prancing  steeds,  in  trappings  gay, 
Whirl  the  bright  chariot  o'er  the  way.1 

Bryant  succeeds  better  when  he  uses  Indian  customs  and 
beliefs  as  a  setting  for  universal  human  passion,  as  in 
The  Indian  Girl's  Lament  and  Monument  Mountain; 
or  merely  describes  the  Indian  without  attempting  to 
make  him  talk,  as  in  The  Disinterred  Warrior. 

Nearly  all  of  Bryant's  best  poetry  has  to  do  with 
nature,  life  and  death,  or  creations  of  the  fancy.  The 
nature  poetry  and  the  meditations  on  life  and  death  are 
often  combined  in  the  same  poem.  His  favorite  method 
was  to  begin  by  describing  some  natural  object  —  a 
river,  a  prairie,  a  breeze,—  and  then  imagine  the  various 
phases  of  human  life  that  had  been  or  would  be  asso 
ciated  with  it;  a  commonplace  and  rather  cheap  device, 
that  does  not  improve  with  repetition.  The  same  love 
of  broad  surveys  appears  also  in  poems  wholly  medita 
tive,  as  The  Ages,  The  Crowded  Street,  and  -The  Flood 
of  Years,  which  represent  his  early,  middle,  and  later 
work,  and  show  how  persistent  was  this  tendency  of  his 
reflective,  non-dramatic  temperament.  None  of  his 
purely  meditative  poems  is  remarkable.2  In  fact,  Bryant 

1  An  Indian  at  the  Burial-Place  of  his  Fathers. 

2  The  Ages  has  been  much  over-praised ;  its  handling  of  the  Spen 
serian  stanza  is  stiff,  and  its  review  of  history  crude.      The  Crowded 
Street  and    Waiting  by  the  Gate  rise  little  above  the  level  of  the  better 
class  of  newspaper  poetry.      The  Flood  of  Years  is  dignified  common 
place. 


144      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

loses  the  better  part  of  his  strength  when  he  loses  contact 
with  the  earth.  Thanatopsis  is  his  greatest  reflective 
poem  largely  because  its  central  thought  rises  so  directly 
out  of  the  contemplation  of  a  sublime  fact  of  nature, 
and  is  practically  one  with  it.  As  the  youthful  poet 
gazed  upon  the  face  of  nature  at  the  fall  of  the  leaf,  and, 
sending  his  thought  over  the  earth,  back  into  the  past, 
and  onward  into  the  future,  beheld  death  everywhere  as 
a  great  natural  fact,  something  of  the  large  steadfastness 
and  solemn  calm  of  the  All-Mother  came  into  his  soul 
and  gave  birth  to  this  poem :  since  death  is  natural  and 
universal,  it  must  be  well;  the  sublimity  of  the  eternal 
process  stills  the  spirit's  petty  flutterings,  and  brings  a 
high,  stern  calm.  R.  H.  Stoddard  has  said  that  Thana 
topsis  is  "  the  greatest  poem  ever  written  by  so  young 
a  man."  "What  renders  it  more  remarkable,"  adds 
Mr.  Godwin,  "  is  the  suddenness  with  which  it  breaks 
away  from  everything  he  had  hitherto  attempted."  Up 
to  this  time  his  verses  had  been  conventional  though 
clever  echoes  of  English  poetry  of  the  eighteenth  cen 
tury.  But  here  was  a  poem  which  "  came  out  of  the  heart 
of  our  primeval  woods,"1  and  has  a  style  and  a  music 
of  its  own  —  stately  but  not  pompous,  solemn  but  not 
heavy,  combining  the  richness  of  the  organ  with  the 
freedom  of  the  swaying  woods  and  the  rolling  sea.2 

1  Godwin's  life  of  Bryant,  Vol.  I.,  p.  99. 

2  Just  before  writing  Thanatopsis  he  had  been  reading  Henry  Kirke 
White's   poems,    much    taken    with    their   "  melancholy   tone,"    Blair's 
Grave,   Porteus    on   Death,    Southey's   shorter   poems,    and   Cowper's 
The  Task.     The  germ  of  the  thought,  as  Mr.  Godwin  points  out,  is  in 
these  lines  by  Blair  :  — 

What  is  this  world  ? 

What  but  a  spacious  burial-field  unwalled, 
Strewed  with  death's  spoils,  the  spoils  of  animals 


WILLIAM    CULLEN    BRYANT.  145 

In  other  of  the  nature  poems  reflection  sinks  to  a 
subordinate  place  or  is  omitted  altogether.  The  In 
scription  for  the  Entrance  to  a  Wood  breathes  the  very 
essence  of  woodland  life  —  the  calm  shade,  the  cool 
breeze,  the  barky  moisture,  the  glad  animal  and  insect 
life,  the  mossy  antiquity,  the  warm  sunshine  striking  in 
through  the  swaying  treetops,  the  green  wildness  and 
freedom  of  it  all.  It  smells  of  the  moist  earth  more 
than  anything  in  Wordsworth,  is  a  step  nearer  to  the 
essence  of  primitive  nature.  In  A  Forest  Hymn  there 
is  the  same  breath  of  the  fresh  woods,  with  more  eleva 
tion  of  thought;  Bryant's  sense  of  the  presence  of  God 
in  nature  is  as  immediate  and  real  as  Wordsworth's, 
but  is  not  so  deep  and  large,  and  in  style  the  poem 
nowhere  approaches  the  sublimity  of  parts  of  Tintern 
Abbey.  But  Bryant  is  again  superior  to  Wordsworth  in 
the  larger  and  sterner  phases  of  the  elemental  feeling  for 
nature.  The  Hurricane  has  no  parallel  in  the  poems  of 
the  English  poet  for  its  imaginative  abandon  to  the 

Savage  and  tame,  and  full  of  dead  men's  bones. 
The  very  turf  on  which  we  tread  once  lived, 
And  we  that  live  must  lend  our  carcasses 
To  cover  our  own  offspring ;  in  their  turns 
They,  too,  must  cover  theirs. 

Godwin  continues,  in  a  passage  which  deserves  transcription  : 
"The  versification  may,  perhaps,  bear  traces  of  Covvper  and  Southey, 
although  it  is  more  terse,  compact,  energetic,  and  harmonious  than 
either  of  them;  its  pauses,  cadences,  rhythms  are  different,  and  it  has  a 
movement  of  its  own,  a  deep  organ-like  roll,  which  corresponds  to  the 
sombre  nature  of  the  theme.  A  lingering  memory  of  the  sublime 
lamentations  of  Job,  an  impression  from  the  Greeks  of  that  ineffable 
sadness  which  moans  through  even  their  lightest  music,  and  his  recent 
readings,  may  all  have  conspired  to  influence  its  tone ;  but  the  real 
inspiration  of  it  came  from  the  infinite  solitudes  of  our  forests,  stretching 
interminably  inland  over  the  silent  work  of  death  ever  going  on  within 
their  depths."—  Life  of  Bryant,  Vol.  I.,  p.  99. 
L 


146      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

delirium  of  storm.  In  Summer  Wind,  "fierce  sun 
shine,"  "dazzling  light,"  "bright  clouds,"  and  "brazen 
sky  "  are  depicted  with  Greek-like  severity  and  radiance; 
and  in  After  a  Tempest  and  June  the  sense  of  sunshine 
lying  rich  and  golden  along  the  earth  is  conveyed  power 
fully  with  a  few  words.  In  The  Prairie  earth  and  sky 
are  felt  in  their  elemental  simplicity  and  largeness.  Yet 
the  lighter,  prettier,  more  delicate  phases  of  nature  are 
handled  with  joyousness  and  grace  in  Green  River,  The 
Yellow  Violet,  To  the  Fringed  Gentian,  Robert  of  Lincoln, 
and  other  poems;  while  the  poet's  minute  and  loving 
knowledge  of  nature  is  shown  almost  everywhere.1  Bry 
ant  moralizes  nature  too  much.  In  To  a  Waterfowl  the 
lesson  springs  naturally  from  his  poetic  feeling  of  fellow 
ship  with  the  bird  —  both  are  creatures  of  the  Great 
God,  "lone  wandering,  but  not  lost";  it  therefore 
deepens  the  spiritual  significance,  without  injury  to  the 
poetry,  although  it  might  have  been  introduced  with 
less  formality.  But  in  several  other  poems  the  moral  is 
obtruded,  and  nature  seems  to  be  degraded  into  a  text. 
Bryant  is  most  like  Wordsworth  in  the  poems  which 
speak  of  the  calming  and  elevating  influence  of  nature 
upon  man.2  The  two  poets  are  also  alike  in  having 
written  little  upon  mountains  or  the  sea.  But  in  gen- 

1  There  is  special  delicacy  and  beauty  of  observation  in  The  Death  of 
the  Flowers,  The  Snow-Shower,  A  Rain-Dream.     Bryant's  friends  speak 
of  the  range  and  accuracy  of  the  knowledge  of  natural  objects  which  he 
would  incidentally  reveal  in  the  course  of  a  walk.     He  was  a  skilled 
botanist. 

2  In  Oh  Fairest  of  the  Rural  Maids  the  similarity  to  Three  Years  She 
Grew  is  too  close  to  be  accidental.     A  Summer  Ramble  reminds  one  of 
To  Afy  Sister.     The   Yellow   Violet  suggests   To  the  Daisy.    Lines  on 
Revisiting  the  Country,  Inscription  for  the  Entrance  to  a  Wood,  A  Forest 
Hymn,  and  other  poems,  have  striking  points  of  resemblance  to  Tintern 
Abbey. 


WILLIAM   CULLEN    BRYANT.  147 

eral  Bryant  is  as  original  as  Wordsworth.  The  English 
poet  had  a  powerful  effect  upon  him,  but  it  was  by  un 
locking  the  treasures  in  his  own  soul,  not  by  setting 
him  models  for  imitation.1 

It  has  usually  been  said  that  Bryant  had  no  poetic 
development,  but  this  is  not  wholly  true.  His  fancy  was 
a  late  flower;  and  the  poet  who  in  youth  wrote  poems 
for  old  men,  in  age  wrote  charming  verses  for  children. 
This  new  emphasis  upon  the  fanciful  appeared  first  in  a 
few  nature  poems,  as  To  a  Cloud,  The  Painted  Cup,  and 
The  Wind  and  Stream.  It  was  accompanied  by  an  un 
successful  attempt  to  handle  the  weird  supernatural,  in 
Catterskill  Falls  and  The  Strange  Lady.  But  in  later 
years  the  beautiful  supernatural  received  delicate  treat 
ment  in  Sella  and  The  Little  People  of  the  Snow*  Bry 
ant's  translation  of  the  Iliad  and  the  Odyssey  shows 
somewhat  the  fatigue  of  age ;  it  also  fails  to  reproduce 
the  rapidity  and  sustained  poetical  elevation  of  the 

1  Bryant  first  read  the  Lyrical  Ballads  in  1810.     "  He  said  that,  upon 
opening  the  book,  a  thousand  springs  seemed  to  gush  up  at  once  in  his 
heart,  and  the  face  of  Nature,  of  a  sudden,  to  change  into  a  strange 
freshness  and  life."  —  R.  H.  Dana,  as  quoted  in  Godwin's  life  of  Bryant, 
Vol.  I.,  p.  104. 

2  Bryant's  workmanship,  too,  shows  development  in  these  poems. 
The  blank  verse  is  not  the  blank  verse  of  Thanatopsis  ;  it  is  lighter, 
more  rapid,  as  befits  a  story-poem,  and,  like  the  delicately  sensuous 
style,  seems  to  show  the  influence  of  Tennyson  :  — 

.     .     .     The  bride 

Stood  in  the  blush  that  from  her  burning  cheek 
Glowed  down  the  alabaster  neck,  as  morn 
Crimsons  the  pearly  heaven  half-way  to  the  west. 
At  once  the  harpers  struck  their  chords  ;  a  gush 
Of  music  broke  upon  the  air;  the  youths 
All  started  to  the  dance.     Among  them  moved 
The  queenly  Sella  with  a  grace  that  seemed 
Caught  from  the  swaying  of  the  summer  sea. 


148      THE   LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

original;  yet  on  the  whole  it  is  probably  the  best  ren 
dering  of  Homer  into  English  verse. 

Bryant's  range  was  narrow,  and  even  within  it  his 
really  good  work  is  small  in  amount.  But  his  best 
poems  have  enduring  value.  His  style  is  pure,  terse, 
and  strong.  His  verse  has  little  elasticity  and  no  magic, 
but  is  always  correct  and  sometimes  richly  musical. 
His  imagination  was  a  bird  of  strong  wing  for  short 
flights.  He  had  no  dramatic  sense,  little  humor,  and 
no  intensity  or  warmth  of  passion.  There  was  in  him  a 
good  deal  of  the  Puritan  sternness  and  inflexibility;  he 
lacked  imaginative  mobility  and  the  grace  of  sympathy. 
But  he  had  the  Puritan  virtues,  too,  for  they  were  in  his 
blood  and  had  been  nourished  by  the  moral  and  religious 
atmosphere  of  a  typical  New  England  home.1  Truth, 
justice,  purity,  reverence  were  the  air  in  which  his  spirit 
lived,  without  which  it  would  stifle;  and  these  high 
qualities  pervade  his  poetry  and  make  it  tonic.  The 
wind  that  blows  through  it,  though  cold,  is  bracing. 
And  his  sternness  is  the  sternness  of  granite  —  good  to 
build  upon.  His  name  will  endure  as  that  of  the  poet 
who  first  gave  large  utterance  to  the  voice  of  Nature  in 
the  New  World. 

Several  minor  writers  resident  in  the  city  or  state  of 
New  York,  belonging  to  a  somewhat  later  day  than  those 
already  mentioned,  must  be  spoken  of  briefly  before 
taking  leave  of  the  New  York  group.  HERMAN  MELVILLE 

1  Speaking  of  his  mother,  Bryant  says :  "  If  in  the  discussion  of  pub 
lic  questions,  I  have  .  .  .  endeavored  to  keep  in  view  the  great  rule  of 
right  without  much  regard  to  persons,  it  has  been  owing  in  a  good 
degree  to  the  force  of  her  example,  which  taught  me  never  to  counte 
nance  a  wrong  because  others  did."  — Godwin's  life  of  Bryant,  Vol,  I,, 
I  4- 


OTHER   WRITERS.  149 

(1819-1891)  wrote  Typee  (1846),  a  narrative  of  his  life 
among  cannibals  in  the  South  Seas;  Moby  Dick  (1851), 
and  other  novels;  The  Piazza  Tales  (1856)  ;  Battle-Pieces 
(1866)  and  other  poems  and  prose  works;  all  showing 
much  strength  and  talent.  The  Poems  (1845)  of 
WILLIAM  W.  LORD  (1819-)  have  facility  and  sweetness, 
the  influence  of  Coleridge  and  Keats  being  apparent 
in  them;  Christ  in  Hades  (1851),  in  Miltonic  blank 
verse,  is  heavy  and  obscure;  but  Andre  (1856),  a  tragedy, 
has  much  nobility  of  tone.  WILLIAM  R.  WALLACE  (1819- 
1881),  whose  earlier  poems  —  The  Battle  of  Tippecanoe 
(1837),  Alban  the  Pirate  (1848)  — were  modelled  upon 
Scott  and  Byron,  while  his  later  —  Meditations  in  America 
(1851),  etc. — are  often  Tennysonian,  is  now  remem 
bered  only  by  his  song,  The  Sword  of  Bunker  Hill  (i  86 1) . 
JOHN  G.  SAXE  (1816-1887)  was  Hood's  worthy  successor 
in  the  knack  of  punning  in  verse;  his  humorous  poems, 
as  The  Proud  Miss  Mac  bride  (in  Poems,  1850),  and  The 
Masquerade  (1866),  often  have  a  moral  under  the  fun; 
his  more  serious  poems  —  Progress  (1846),  a  satire;  The 
Money- King  (1854);  Clever  Stories  of  Many  Nations 
(1865);  Leisure-Day  Rhymes  (1875),  etc. — are  bright 
and  clever;  but  all  his  work  is  superficial,  greatly 
inferior  to  that  of  Holmes  in  penetrating  sparkle.  WIL 
LIAM  A.  BUTLER  (1825-)  published  two  novels  and  Poems 
(1871),  but  his  literary  wardrobe  is  now  practically 
reduced  to  Nothing  to  Wear  (i857\  an  amusing  satire 
on  women  of  fashion.  ALICE  GARY  (1820-1871)  was 
born  in  Ohio,  but  with  her  sister  PHCEBE,  whose  gifts 
were  much  more  commonplace,  removed  to  New  York 
in  1852. L  She  lives  chiefly  by  her  poems  of  personal 
1  The  sisters  jointly  published  Poems,  1850.  Alice  published  Clover- 


150      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

feeling,  which  at  their  best  are  sweetly  lyrical,  full  of 
bright  fancy,  beautiful  diction,  and  delicate  observation 
of  nature,  resembling  the  verse  of  Keats  and  Tennyson. 
Her  ballads  and  other  verses  for  children,  though  often 
moral  in  intent,  are  playful.  Her  religious  poems  are 
at  once  devout  and  beautiful.  Alice  Gary's  poetical 
vein  was  slender,  but  it  was  pure  gold. 

The  continued  literary  sterility  of  the  South  is  at  first 
sight  surprising.  Intellect  was  not  lacking  —  a  glance  at 
the  history  of  the  country  is  enough  to  prove  that.  Edu 
cation  and  a  certain  sort  of  literary  culture  were  not 
wanting  among  the  upper  class ;  there  were  good  private 
schools,  and  the  eldest  sons  of  the  rich  planters  com 
monly  received  a  university  education  at  the  North  or  in 
England.  Poetic  passion  and  sense  for  beauty  are  native 
to  the  Southern  blood  and  the  Southern  sky ;  while  the 
existence  of  a  leisure  class  and  of  a  picturesque  social 
order  directly  favored  literary  productiveness.  If  this 
were  the  whole  picture,  it  might  naturally  have  been 
expected  that  the  sunny  South,  settled  by  the  song-loving 
Cavalier,  would  have  become  the  cradle  of  American  art, 
the  Italy  of  the  New  World.  But  it  was  not  so.  Great 
generals,  wise  statesmen,  brilliant  orators  she  has  given 
us,  but  our  most  famous  poets  and  romancers  have  nearly 
all  been  natives  of  the  North.  The  explanation,  after  all, 
lies  on  the  surface.  Down  to  the  time  of  the  Civil  War 
the  Southern  people,  to  use  the  words  of  a  recent  South 
ern  writer,1  "  were  living  a  primitive  life,  a  life  full  of 

nook,  1852-1853,  two  series  of  prose  sketches;  Hagar,  1852,  a  story; 
Pictures  of  Country  Life,  1859;  Ballads,  Lyrics,  and  Hymns,  1866;  A 
Lover's  Diary,  1867,  a  poem  ;  etc. 

i  W.  P.  Trent,  in  his  life  of  W.  G.  Simms,  p.  31. 


THE    SOUTHERN    SCHOOL.  151 

survivals."  They  were  "  descendants,  in  the  main,  of 
that  '  portion  of  the  English  people  who  .  .  .  had  been 
least  modernized,  who  still  retained  a  large  element  of 
the  feudal  notions.'  .  .  .  Slavery  helped  feudalism,  and 
feudalism  helped  slavery ;  and  the  Southern  people  were 
largely  the  outcome  of  the  interaction  of  these  two  for 
mative  principles."  Similarly,  another  Southern  writer1 
says  :  "  The  South  changed  far  less  after  its  separation 
from  Great  Britain  than  did  the  North.  .  .  .  Assuming 
provincialism  to  be  .  .  .  '  localism,  or  being  on  one  side 
and  apart  from  the  general  movement  of  contemporary 
life,'  the  South  was  provincial.  .  .  .  The  world  was 
moving  with  quicker  strides  than  the  Southern  planter 
knew,  and  slavery  was  banishing  from  his  land  all  the 
elements  of  that  life  which  was  keeping  stride  with  prog 
ress  without."  The  literary  life  lagged  behind  with  the 
rest.  The  Southern  feudal  aristocrat  took  naturally  to 
hunting,  horse-racing,  law,  and  politics.  Literature  he 
looked  upon  "  as  the  choice  recreation  of  gentlemen,  as 
something  fair  and  good,  to  be  courted  in  a  dainty,  ama 
teur  fashion  "  ;2  but  as  for  making  a  profession  of  it,  the 
average  Southern  gentleman  before  the  war  would  have 
endorsed  the  advice  given  to  a  promising  Southern  poet 
by  one  of  his  neighbors  :  "  I  wouldn't  waste  time  on  a 

thing  like  poetry ;   you  might  make  yourself,  with 

all  your  sense  and  judgment,  a  useful  man  in  settling 
neighborhood  disputes  and  difficulties."3  The  upper 
class  was  thus  not  of  the  temper  to  foster  the  growth  of 

1  Thomas  Nelson  Page,  in  The  Old  So^lth,  pp.  24,  25. 

2  Paul  H.  Hayne,  the  Southern  poet,  as  quoted  in  Trent's  life  of 
Simms,  p.  25. 

3  The  Old  South,  p.  71.     The  poet  was  Philip  P.  Cooke,  who  had 
just  become  known  as  the  author  of  that  beautiful  lyric,  Florence  Vane. 


152      THE   LITERATURE   FROM    1815   TO    1870. 

a  native  literature,  and  there  was  no  other  that  could  do 
it.  The  Southern  aristocrat's  "power  as  a  landed  and 
slave  proprietor  drove  out  the  small  yeoman,  cowed  the 
tradesman  and  the  mechanic,  and  deprived  the  South  of 
that  most  necessary  factor  in  the  development  of  national 
greatness,  a  thrifty  middle  class."  J  The  consequent  lack 
of  great  centres  of  population,  the  fewness  and  poorness 
of  the  common  schools,  the  absence  of  a  large  reading 
public  —  social  phenomena  all  traceable  ultimately  to  the 
South's  inherited  curses  of  feudal  conservatism  and  Afri 
can  slavery  —  tended  powerfully  to  prevent  the  develop 
ment  of  a  literary  class  by  making  it  almost  impossible 
for  men  of  letters  to  gain  a  hearing  or  a  living. 

But  the  literature  of  the  Southern  School,  although 
scant  in  amount,  is,  at  its  best,  of  fine  quality;  and  the 
writers  have  more  in  common  than  those  of  New  York. 
The  cavalier  blood,  the  aristocratic  structure  of  society, 
the  semi-tropical  climate,  all  tell  in  the  literature,  which 
has  more  local  pride,  more  passion  and  color,  more 
love  of  beauty  for  its  own  sake.  WILLIAM  CRAFTS 
(1787-1826),  of  South  Carolina,  a  graduate  of  Harvard, 
a  state  legislator  and  eminent  lawyer,  had  during  his 
lifetime  a  reputation  for  brilliancy  as  orator,  essayist, 
and  poet;  his  Miscellaneous  Writings  (1828)  do  not 
bear  it  out,  but  he  is  an  interesting  figure  as  a  literary 
pioneer.  RICHARD  H.  WILDE  (1789-1847),  a  Georgia 
congressman  and  state  attorney-general,  is  known  chiefly 
by  his  song,  My  Life  is  Like  the  Summer  Rose ;  but  he 
was  also  a  good  Italian  scholar;  and  his  Hesperia 
(1867),  a  poem  much  in  the  manner  of  Childe  Harold, 
describes  American  scenes  with  a  good  deal  of  vigor 

1  W.  P.  Trent,  in  his  life  of  Simms,  p.  39. 


THE   SOUTHERN   WRITERS.  153 

and  poetic  glamour.  The  Poems  (1825)  of  EDWARD  C. 
PINKNEY  (1802-1828),  of  Maryland,  contain  some  grace 
ful  lyrics  in  the  manner  of  Moore;  The  Indian's  Bride 
idealizes  Indian  life  in  the  conventional  way  but  rather 
prettily;  Rodolph  shows  the  influence  of  Scott  and 
Byron.  GEORGE  H.  CALVERT  (1803-1889),  great-grand 
son  of  the  founder  of  Maryland,  wrote  much  —  too 
much  —  in  verse  of  varied  kinds  but  uniform  quality. 
PHILIP  P.  COOKE  (1816-1850),  of  Virginia,  in  Froissart 
Ballads  and  Other  Poems  (1847)  shows  much  freshness 
and  brightness;  the  ballads  reproduce  well  the  spirit 
of  the  old  days  of  chivalry,  and  have  something  of 
Chaucer's  naive  blitheness;  the  nature  poems  are  re 
freshing  by  their  breezy  atmosphere  and  manly  love  of 
outdoor  sports;  his  best-known  poem,  the  Tennysonian 
lyric,  Florence  Vane,  is  delicate  and  sad.  Orta-Undis, 
and  Other  Poems  (1848),  by  JAMES  M.  LEGARE  (1823- 
1859),  of  South  Carolina,  has  French  lightness  of  touch 
and  grace  of  sentiment.  The  South  Carolinian,  HENRY 
B.  TIMROD  (1829-1867),  a  poet  of  what  Mr.  Stedman 
calls  "the  artistic  and  cosmopolitan  type,"  wrote  pretty 
sonnets,  and,  in  general,  his  Poems  (1860)  contains 
finished  and  delicate  work.  Of  the  same  type  were  the 
poems,  never  collected,  of  JOHN  R.  THOMPSON  (1823- 
1873),  a  Virginian,  for  twelve  years  editor  of  The 
Southern  Literary  Messenger.  PAUL  H.  HAYNE  (1830- 
1886),  of  South  Carolina,  showed  his  artistic  tempera 
ment  and  warm  Southern  blood  in  his  sensuous  poems 
and  sonorous  odes;  The  Temptation  of  Venus  (in  Poems, 
1855)  has  passages  of  voluptuous  beauty,  and  The  Island 
in  the  South  (in  Avolio,  with  Poems,  1859)  expresses  a 
love  for  the  natural,  passionate  life;  later  works  are 


154      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

Legends  and  Lyrics  (1872)  and  The  Mountain  of  the 
Lovers  (1875).  JOHN  P.  KENNEDY  (1795-1870),  con 
gressman  from  Maryland,  and  Secretary  of  the  Navy  in 
1852-1853,  wrote  novels  that  were  once  popular.  Horse- 
Shoe  Robinson  (1835),  his  best  work,  a  story  of  the 
Revolution,  contains  much  exciting  action,  ending 
with  the  battle  of  King's  Mountain;  the  picture  of 
Marion's  swamp-camp  at  night  is  graphic;  but  the 
original,  shrewd  character  of  "Horse-Shoe"  and  the 
narrative  of  his  daring  exploits  are  the  best  part  of 
the  book. 

WILLIAM  GILMORE  SIMMS  (1806-1870),  of  South  Caro 
lina,  was  a  versatile  and  prolific  author,1  and,  after  Poe, 
the  most  considerable  man  of  letters  in  the  South.  He 
experienced  to  the  full  the  obstacles  which  Southern 

i  Lyrical  and  Other  Poems,  1827.  Early  Lays,  1827.  The  Vision 
of  Cortes,  Cain,  and  Other  Poems,  1829.  Atalantis,  1832.  Martin 
Faber,  1833.  The  Book  of  My  Lady,  1833.  Guy  Rivers,  1834. 
The  Yemassee,  1835.  The  Partisan,  1835.  Mellichampe,  1836.  Pe- 
layo,  1838.  Richard  Hurdis,  1838.  Carl  Werner,  1838.  Southern 
Passages  and  Pictures,  1839.  The  Damsel  of  Darien,  1839.  Border 
Beagles,  1840.  The  History  of  South  Carolina,  1840.  The  Kins 
men,  1841.  Confession,  1841.  Beauchampe,  1842.  Donna  Florida. 
1843.  Castle  Dismal,  1845.  The  Life  of  Francis  Marion,  1845. 
Helen  Halsey,  1845.  Count  Julian,  1845.  Grouped  Thoughts,  a  Col 
lection  of  Sonnets,  1845.  Views  and  Reviews,  1846  (imprint,  1845). 
The  Wigwam  and  the  Cabin,  1845-1846.  Areytos;  or,  Songs  of  the 
South,  1846.  The  Life  of  Captain  John  Smith,  1846.  The  Life  of 
Chevalier  Bayard,  1847.  Lays  of  the  Palmetto,  1848.  Atalantis  (con 
taining  also  The  Eye  and  the  Wing),  1848.  The  Life  of  Nathaniel 
Greene,  1849.  Father  Abbot,  1849.  Sabbath  Lyrics,  1849.  The  Cas- 
sique  of  Accabee,  with  other  Pieces,  1849.  The  City  of  the  Silent,  1850. 
The  Lily  and  the  Totem,  1850.  Norman  Maurice,  1851.  Katharine 
Walton,  1851.  Michael  Bonham  (drama),  1852.  The  Sword  and  the 
Distaff,  1852.  Marie  de  Berniere,  1853.  Poems  (2vols.),  1853.  Vas- 
conselos,  1854.  The  Forayers,  1855.  Eutaw,  1856.  Charlemont,  1856. 
The  Cassique  of  Kiawah,  1859.  Benedict  Arnold,  a  Dramatic  Essay, 
1863.  Etc.,  etc. 


WILLIAM   GILMORE   SIMMS.  155 

society  at  that  time  opposed  to  the  literary  life ;  but  his 
strong  natural  bent  toward  letters l  and  the  resolution  of 
his  character  (at  maturity  he  had  the  look  of  a  lion) 
triumphed  over  all  the  difficulties  which  could  be  con 
quered  by  individual  effort.  Belonging  to  the  poorer 
class,  he  had  scant  and  wretched  school  instruction.  The 
Charleston  library,  however,  was  open  to  him ;  and  his 
grandmother,  with  whom  he  lived  for  many  years,  fired 
his  boyish  imagination  with  old  tales  of  superstition  and 
stories  of  the  Revolution.  When  his  father  returned 
from  several  years'  residence  in  the  wilds  of  Mississippi, 
he  increased  the  future  romancer's  stock  in  trade  by 
thrilling  descriptions  of  rough  border  life  and  of  Indian 
warfare.  Simms  early  began  to  write  and  publish  ;  meet 
ing  with  some  success,  he  boldly  gave  himself  to  liter 
ature,  pouring  forth  poems,  novels,  histories,  and 
biographies  with  amazing  rapidity,  editing  the  Charleston 
Gazette,  and  struggling  heroically  at  various  times  to 
keep  several  ill-starred  magazines  afloat.  His  poetry 
displays  much  talent  and  facility.  The  earlier  vol 
umes,  consisting  mostly  of  poems  on  love,  nature, 
and  Indian  life,  and  imitative  of  Byron  and  Moore, 
are  inferior.  Atalantis,  an  ambitious  poem  of  fancy, 
in  dramatic  form,  the  main  elements  apparently  sug 
gested  by  The  Tempest,  Comus,  and  Prometheus  Un 
bound,  is  written  in  light  blank  verse,  and  some  of  the 
songs  are  pretty.  Donna  Florida,  an  avowed  attempt 
to  imitate  the  wit  of  Don  Juan  without  its  indecency, 
amusingly  pictures  the  aged  Ponce  de  Leon's  courtship 

1  To  hide  the  light  from  his  vigilant  grandmother,  who  did  not  ap 
prove  of  late  hours,  the  boy  would  read  in  his  room  with  candle  and 
head  inside  a  box. 


156      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

of  a  saucy  young  beauty;1  the  description  of  the  fight 
with  the  Florida  Indians  is  spirited.  S0?igs  and  Ballads 
have  music,  warmth,  local  color,  and  love  for  the  "  sunny 
South."  The  Cassique  of  Accabee  is  an  interesting  and 
pathetic  tale  of  an  Indian  chief's  love  for  a  white  girl. 
Norman  Maurice  is  a  bold  attempt  to  write  a  tragedy  on 
a  subject  from  contemporary  American  life.  The  scene 
is  Philadelphia  and  Missouri;  Maurice,  a  young  lawyer 
and  senator-elect,  is  in  danger  of  ruin  by  the  plots  of 
his  enemy;  his  wife  stabs  the  plotter,  to  get  the  seem 
ingly  incriminating  papers,  and  is  killed  by  the  shock 
to  her  moral  nature.  The  style  is  rather  oratorical,  and 
the  general  effect  crude.  Much  of  Simms's  best  poetry  is 
in  the  collection  of  1853;  the  tales  make*  interesting  and 
poetic  use  of  local  traditions  and  scenery;  The  Shaded 
Water  is  a  quietly  beautiful  nature  poem ;  Summer  in 
the  South  has  flush;  in  Bertram  and  The  Death  of  Cleo 
patra,  which  were  perhaps  influenced  by  Landor's 
Imaginary  Conversations,  are  excellent  style  and  some 
true  dramatic  feeling;  several  versified  Bible  stories 
reflect,  like  Willis's  languidly  pious  wares,  the  taste  of 
the  times.  Simms's  poetry,  as  a  whole,  lacks  concentra 
tion  and  perfection  of  form.  His  novels  have  been  more 
widely  read,  but  they  also  bear  marks  of  haste.  His 
models  were  Scott  and  Cooper,  and  occasionally  Godwin 

1  Leonora's  song  to  her  tedious  wooer  is  tricksy  :  — 
Old  men  young  maids  pursuing, 

How  little  do  they  guess, 
That  every  hour  of  wooing, 

But  makes  their  chances  less.  .  .  . 
Love  hath  no  long  discourses, 

A  single  smile,  a  sigh, 
These  are  the  sovereign  forces, 

That  give  him  victory. 

—  Canto  II.,  after  stanza  35. 


JOHN    ESTEN   COOKE.  157 

and  Brown;  but  the  subject-matter  was  fresh.  In  the 
so-called  "border  romances,"  the  crudest  of  his  stories, 
rough  life  in  the  Southwestern  states  is  described  with 
much  vigor  and  rush.  His  best  novels,  as  The  Partisan, 
The  Kinsmen,  and  Katharine  Walton,  handle  themes 
from  Southern  history  in  the  stirring  times  of  the 
Revolution;  and  the  pictures  of  Southern  life  and  so 
ciety,  and  the  narratives  of  historical  or  semi-historical 
events,  are  still  interesting.  Like  Cooper,  however, 
Simms  often  loiters  by  the  way  to  talk  when  he  should 
be  in  the  saddle;  his  humor  is  sometimes  tedious;  his 
love  scenes  are  comparatively  insipid;  and  his  heroes 
and  heroines  are,  in  general,  less  individual  and  inter 
esting  than  the  characters  from  common  life,  although  he 
succeeds  in  giving  rather  vivid  impressions  of  the  beauty 
and  spirit  of  high-bred  Southern  women.  But  in  scenes 
of  action,  as  in  the  attack  upon  the  Middleton  man 
sion  in  The  Kinsmen,  the  narrative  is  often  rapid 
and  powerful,  holding  the  attention  and  stirring  the 
blood.  Simms  had  talent  and  industry  enough.  What 
he  needed,  in  order  to  reach  that  slightly  higher  level 
which  ensures  permanence  of  fame,  was  brilliancy,  a 
severer  standard  of  workmanship,  and  a  more  favorable 
literary  environment.1 

JOHN  ESTEN  COOKE  (1830-1886),  of  Virginia,  wrote 
several  novels 2  of  much  the  same  general  character  as 

1  In  the  years  1835-1846  seven  of  the  novels  were  reprinted  in  Eng 
land  ;  and  The  Wigwam  and  Cabin,  a  collection  of  tales,  was  translated 
into  German  in  1846. 

2  Leather  Stocking  and  Silk,  a  Story  of  the  Valley  of  Virginia,  1854. 
The  Virginia  Comedians;  or,  Days  in  the  Old  Dominion,  1854.    Henry 
St.  John,  Gentleman,   a  Tale  of  1774-1775,   1859.     Surrey  of  Eagle's 
Nest,  1866.     Fairfax,  1868.     Hilt  to  Hilt,  1869.     Hammer  and  Rapier, 
1870.     The  Virginia  Bohemians,  1880.     My  Lady  Pokahontas,  1885. 


158      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

those  by  Simms.  His  analysis  of  character  was  much 
keener  and  deeper,  however,  and  his  gift  of  humor 
greater,  and  there  is  more  passion  and  poetry  in  his 
style.  He  reminds  one  of  Thackeray,  at  times,  by  his 
easy  familiarity  with  good  society  and  by  a  suggestion 
of  reserve  power.  The  Virginia  Comedians,  perhaps  his 
best  novel,  gives  vivid  and  brilliantly  colored  pictures 
of  life  in  the  Old  Dominion  in  1763  and  1765;  but 
the  attempt  to  introduce  Patrick  Henry  is  a  flat  failure, 
leading  to  nothing  but  tiresome  political  conversations 
and  sophomoric  declamation. 

The  life  of    EDGAR  ALLAN  POE  1  is  the   saddest   in 

1  LIFE.  Born  in  Boston,  Jan.  19,  1809.  Father  an  actor;  mother  an 
English  actress.  After  his  mother's  death  in  1811,  adopted  by  John  Allan 
of  Richmond  ;  1815-1820,  at  Manor  House  School,  near  London ;  1820- 
1825,  at  school  in  Richmond ;  Feb.  14, 1826,  matriculated  in  University  of 
Virginia ;  because  of  gambling  debts,  withdrawn  in  December  and  placed 
in  his  guardian's  counting-room.  Wandered  to  Boston ;  served  in  the 
army,  1827-1829;  admitted  to  West  Point,  July  I,  1830;  Mar.  6,  1831, 
discharged.  In  Baltimore,  writing  for  magazines,  1831-1835.  In  Rich 
mond,  editor  of  The  Southern  Literary  Messenger,  1835-1837 ;  probably 
married  secretly  to  his  cousin,  Virginia  Clemm,  thirteen  years  old,  at 
Baltimore,  1835 ;  publicly  married,  1836.  In  New  York,  writing,  1837- 
1838.  In  Philadelphia,  1838-1844:  associate  editor  of  Burtons  Gentle- 
mans  Magazine,  1839-1840  ;  editor  of  Graham  s  Magazine,  1841-1842. 
In  New  York,  1844-1849  (living  at  Fordham,  in  the  environs,  after 
1845)  :  "  paragraphist  "  for  The  Evening  Mirror,  1844-1845;  co-editor, 
editor,  and  owner  of  The  Broadway  Journal,  1845  I  w'fe  died,  Jan.  30, 
1847;  conditionally  accepted  by  Mrs.  Sarah  Whitman,  November, 
1848 ;  rejected  for  intemperance,  December,  1848.  To  Richmond, 
July,  1849 ;  apparently  engaged  to  Mrs.  Sarah  Skelton  in  September ; 
died  in  Baltimore,  Oct.  7,  1849. 

WORKS.  Tamerlane  and  Other  Poems,  1827.  Al  Aaraaf,  Tamerlane, 
and  Minor  Poems,  1829.  Poems,  1831.  The  Narrative  of  Arthur 
Gordon  Pym,  1838.  Tales  of  the  Grotesque  and  Arabesque,  1840. 
Tales,  1845.  The  Raven,  in  the  New  York  Evening  Mirror,  Jan.  29, 
1845.  The  Raven  and  Other  Poems,  1845.  Eureka :  a  Prose  Poem, 
1848.  Annabel  Lee,  in  The  New  York  Tribune  soon  after  Poe's  death. 
The  Bells,  in  Sartains  Magazine,  November,  1849.  On  Critics  and 
Criticism,  in  Grahams  Magazine,  January,  1850.  The  Poetic  Principle, 


EDGAR    ALLAN    POE.  159 

the  annals  of  American  men  of  letters.  His  father 
seems  to  have  been  rather  a  worthless  fellow;  but  his 
grandfather,  General  David  Poe  of  Baltimore,  was  a 
man  of  high  character.  From  his  mother,  an  actress  of 
some  ability  and  the  daughter  of  a  talented  actress,  Poe 
inherited  his  artistic  temperament.  The  beautiful,  pre 
cocious  boy  soon  became  a  pet  in  the  home  of  his  fos 
ter  parents,  the  Allans,  where  he  was  surrounded  by 
luxury  and  by  the  best  Virginian  society.  His  five 
years'  residence  in  England,  in  the  midst  of  old  build 
ings  and  memories  of  departed  greatness,  doubtless  did 
yet  more  to  develop  his  dreamy  love  of  beauty.  Yet  in 
some  respects  his  early  training  was  peculiarly  unfortu 
nate.  Imperious,  wilful,  proud,  and  shy,  he  needed 
firm  discipline  and  love;  he  got  indulgence  and  mere 
kindness.  At  school  he  was  a  swift  runner  and  bold 
swimmer,  a  brilliant  though  inaccurate  scholar;  but  he 
was  not  thoroughly  liked,  and  in  boyhood,  as  in  man 
hood,  stood  aloof  in  proud  loneliness.  At  the  Univer 
sity  of  Virginia  there  is  no  evidence  that  he  drank  or 
gambled  more  than  was  common  among  young  Virginian 
bloods  in  those  days;  at  all  events,  he  came  home  at  the 
end  of  the  term  with  first  honors  in  Latin  and  French. 
But  his  foster-father,  over-indulgent  to  the  boy,  went  to 
the  other  extreme  with  the  young  man.  Poe  of  course 
rebelled,  and  wandered  off  to  shift  for  himself.  Find 
ing  that  one  could  not  live  by  the  sale  of  poetry,  even  in 
Boston,  he  enlisted  as  a  private  in  the  army.  A  partial 
reconciliation  with  Mr.  Allan  resulted  in  his  release  and 
his  admission  to  West  Point  Military  Academy.  His 

in  Sartairis  Magazine,  October,  1850.  Most  of  Poe's  criticisms,  tales, 
and  poems  appeared  first  in  periodicals. 


160      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

scholarship  there  was  high,  and  his  discharge  was  due 
merely  to  neglect  of  the  distasteful  military  routine. 

Poe's  life  was  henceforth  a  struggle  with  poverty. 
In  1833  he  had  sunk  to  great  destitution,  when,  by  his 
MS.  Found  in  a  Bottle,  he  won  a  prize  of  one  hundred 
dollars  offered  by  the  Baltimore  Saturday  Visiter ;  later 
he  found  some  hack-work  to  do,  and  sold  a  few  stories. 
It  was  during  this  period  of  obscurity  and  want  in  Bal 
timore,  while  he  was  residing  with  his  father's  sister, 
Mrs.  Clemm,  and  her  daughter  Virginia,  that  there  came 
into  his  life  that  love  which  almost  to  the  end  of  his 
days  burned  bright  and  beautiful  there  amid  the  sur 
rounding  gloom.  Unfortunately,  at  this  time  also  he 
became  a  slave  to  drugs  and  liquor.  At  Richmond, 
whither  he  removed  as  editor  of  The  Southern  Literary 
Messenger,  all  went  well  for  a  while.  Under  his  conduct 
the  magazine  sprang  into  sudden  prominence;  and  his 
salary,  at  first  only  ten  dollars  a  week,  was  raised  to 
eight  hundred  dollars  a  year,  with  a  prospect  of  further 
increase.  But  the  unfortunate  man  carried  within  him 
self  his  own  ruin.  At  times  he  would  drink  till  his 
senses  were  lost;  and  his  employer,  who  was  also  his 
true  friend,  at  last  had  to  let  him  go.  In  Philadelphia 
and  New  York  it  was  the  same  story  over  again,  year 
after  year:  he  easily  got  situations,  but  soon  lost  or  re 
signed  them.  At  irregular  intervals  he  was  made  incapa 
ble  of  work  by  indulgence  in  alcohol  and  opium;  he  was 
constitutionally  restless,  irritable,  imperious,  and  hard 
to  get  along  with,  yet  was  pitiably  weak,  sometimes  im 
ploring  his  friends  to  save  him  from  himself;  he  was 
not  always  truthful;  he  quarrelled  easily  with  old  friends, 
and  thereupon  seemed  to  feel  released  from  all  sense  of 


EDGAR   ALLAN   POE.  161 

gratitude  for  past  benefactions.1  But  he  also  had  many 
fine  qualities.  In  his  ordinary  deportment  he  was  very 
quiet  and  gentlemanly,2  and  he  was  capable  of  rare  lov- 
ableness  and  charm.  His  home  life  in  the  tiny  rose- 
covered  cottage  on  the  outskirts  of  Philadelphia,  and  in 
the  retreat  at  Fordham,  with  its  surrounding  cherry 
trees  and  glimpse  of  the  distant  sea,  was  almost  idyllic 
in  the  happier  days,  when  the  childlike  wife  sang  to  the 
harp  in  a  voice  of  wonderful  sweetness,  the  melancholy 
poet  hanging  over  her  fragile  form  as  if  he  momently 
feared  to  lose  her,  while  the  good  Mrs.  Clemm  looked 
on  with  motherly  love  for  both.  Occasionally,  in  New 
York,  he  went  to  literary  receptions,  where,  "dressed  in 
plain  black,  but  with  the  head,  the  broad,  retreating 
white  brow,  the  large,  luminous,  piercing  eyes,  the  im 
passive  lips,  that  gave  the  visible  character  of  genius 
to  his  features,"  he  would,  "in  his  ordinary,  subdued, 
musical  tones,  exercise  the  fascination  of  his  talk."8 
He  had  "a  peculiar  and  irresistible  charm  "  for  women, 
whom  he  addressed  with  a  "chivalric,  graceful,  almost 

1  Poe's  first  biographer,  Griswold,  perhaps  painted  the  picture  blacker 
than  it  was;  but  the  amiable  Ingram  liberally  applied  whitewash.     The 
evidence  for  the  above  view  of  the  poet's  character  may  be  found  in 
Woodberry's  life  of  Poe,  in  the  biographical  sketch  in  Stedman  and 
Woodberry's  edition  of  Poe,  and  in  Poe's  letters  (with  Professor  Wood- 
berry's  comments)  in  The  Century  Magazine,  August,  September,  Octo 
ber,  1894. 

2  "  He  impressed  me  as  a  refined  and  very  gentlemanly  man,  exceed 
ingly  neat  in  his  person.  .  .  .     His  manner  was  quiet  and  reserved  ;   he 
rarely  smiled.  .  .  .     The  form  of  his  manuscript  was  peculiar ;  he  wrote 
on  half-sheets    of  note-paper,  which   he  pasted  together  at  the  ends, 
making  one  continuous  piece.     As  he  read  he  dropped  it  upon  the 
floor.     It  was  very  neatly  written,  and  without  corrections,  apparently." 
—  Letter  by  Mr.   Darley,  with  whom  Poe  had   pleasant   relations ;    in 
Woodberry,  p.  181. 

3  Professor  Woodberry,  in  his  life  of  Poe,  p.  258. 

M 


1 62      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

tender  reverence."1  But  at  times  the  destitution  of  the 
poet  and  his  family  was  pitiful.2  During  Virginia's 
last  illness,  a  visitor  found  her  lying  on  a  straw  bed, 
"wrapped  in  her  husband's  great-coat,  with  a  large  tor 
toise-shell  cat  in  her  bosom;  ...  the  coat  and  the 
cat  were  the  sufferer's  only  means  of  warmth,  except  as 
her  husband  held  her  hands,  and  her  mother  her  feet."3 
It  is  some  alleviation  to  know  that  aid  was  promptly 
rendered,  and  that  the  last  weeks  of  the  uncomplaining 
little  wife  were  made  as  comfortable  as  they  could  be. 
After  her  death,  Poe  had  brain  fever;  friends  raised 
money  for  his  support.  He  recovered  after  a  while,  and 
did  some  writing  and  lecturing.  But  he  was  a  good 
deal  broken,  and  often  half  insane.  He  felt  pitifully 
the  need  of  help,  now  that  Virginia  was  gone,  and  sought 
it  in  Platonic  friendship  with  "Annie  "  and  in  the  love 
of  Mrs.  Whitman,  a  poetess.  His  final  "descent  into 
the  maelstrom  "  was  swift  and  fearful.  In  the  summer 
of  1849,  on  his  waY  to  Richmond, — whither  he  went 
hoping  to  realize  his  long-cherished  plan  of  starting  a 
magazine  of  his  own,  —  he  had  a  severe  attack  of  de 
lirium  tremens,  in  Philadelphia.  At  Richmond  he  was 
twice  seriously  ill  from  intemperance.  Yet  he  spent 
several  happy  weeks  among  old  friends;  and  when  he 

1  Mrs.  Francis  S.  Osgood,  as  quoted  in  Woodberry,  p.  263. 

2  In  achamujyj,,  chatty  letter  to  Mrs.  Clemm,  written  just  after  he 
and  Vi^BpHmre moved  to  New  York,  he  says,  "  We  have  now  got 
four  dollars  and  a  half  left.     To-morrow  I  am  going  to  try  and  borrow 
three  dollars,  so  that  I  may  have  a  fortnight  to  go  upon.     I  feel  in  ex 
cellent  spirits,  and  haven't  drank  a  drop  —  so  that  I  hope  soon  to  get 
out  of  trouble.  .  .  .     You  can't  imagine  how  much  we  both   do  miss 
you.     Sissy   [Virginia]   had  a  hearty  cry  last  night  because  you  and 
Catterina  [the  cat]  weren't  here."  —  Woodberry,  p.  204. 

3  Woodberry,  p.  274. 


EDGAR   ALLAN   POE.  163 

went  North,  in  the  fall,  it  was  for  the  purpose  of  bring 
ing  Mrs.  Clemm  back  to  Richmond,  where  he  hoped 
soon  to  marry  a  rich  widow,  who  had  been  his  love 
in  youth.  Just  what  happened  to  him  in  Baltimore, 
where  he  stopped  on  the  way,  is  uncertain.  But  he 
was  rescued  from  a  rumshop  by  an  old  friend,  and 
taken,  unconscious,  to  the  city  hospital,  where,  four 
days  later,  he  died  in  extreme  misery. 

In  Poe  the  artist,  were  two  men  —  a  man  of  analytic 
intellect  and  a  man  of  poetic  imagination.  This  fact  will 
furnish  the  point  of  view  in  our  rapid  survey  of  his  writings. 

Poe's  criticisms  of  contemporary  authors  are  of  little 
interest  now,  dealing  mostly  with  forgotten  nobodies 
and  the  details  of  technique.1  But  The  Rationale  of 
Verse,  coming  from  so  great  an  artist,  is  valuable ;  and 
the  lecture  on  The  Poetic  Principle,  in  which  poetry  is 
denned  as  "  the  rhythmic  creation  of  beauty,"  was  a 
wholesome  antidote  to  the  prevailing  didacticism  in 
New  England  conceptions  of  art.2  His  most  ambitious 
intellectual  flight  was  Eureka,  an  essay  on  the  mate 
rial  and  spiritual  universe,  which  is  ingenious  and 


1  In  their  day  they  did  some  service  to  American  letters  by  their 
keen  and  fearless  attacks  upon  complacent  mediocrity.      Poe's  severity 
is,  however,  commonly  exaggerated.     He  often  praised  too  highly;  and 
he  was  quick  to  recognize  real  merit,  assigning  a  high  place  to  Bryant 
and  the  newcomers  Longfellow  and  Lowell  —  in  spite  of  his  persistent 
charges  of  plagiarism  against  Longfellow,  culminating  in  the  "  Long 
fellow  war"  in  1845,  and  his  bitter  review  of  A  Fable  for  Critics,  after 
Lowell  had  drawn  off  from  him. 

2  Poe's  analytic  power  was  manifested  more  fully  by  his  demonstra 
tion  that  Maelzel's  automatic  chess-player  was  operated  by  a  concealed 
man ;    by  his  deciphering  all  the  cryptograms   sent  to    The   Southern 
Literary  Messenger  in  response  to  his  challenge;   and  by  his  famous 
anticipation   of  the  plot  of  Darnaby  Rudge  after  a  few  chapters  had 
appeared. 


1 64      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

brilliant,  but  unsubstantial,  fallacious,  and  sometimes 
ignorant.1 

In  the  Tales  of  Ratiocination  —  The  Murders  in  the 
Rue  Morgue,  The  Mystery  of  Marie  Rogct,  The  Pur 
loined  Letter,  The  Gold  Bug,  etc.  —  analytic  reason  is 
so  brilliantly  employed  that  Poe  has  been  called  the 
"potential  prince  of  detectives."  In  the  Tales  of 
Pseudo-Science,  also,  intellect  predominates.  The  Ad 
venture  of  One  Hans  Pfaal  and  The  Balloon  Hoax  are 
worked  out  with  great  realistic  detail  and  display  of 
science,  but  they  do  not  allow  of  the  higher  imagination. 
A  Descent  into  the  Maelstrom  is  more  poetical,  and  the 
scientific  part  blends  perfectly  with  the  poetic;  we  read 
eagerly  about  the  law  governing  the  velocity  of  bodies 
in  water,  because  on  it  hangs  the  safety  of  ^a  human  life, 
and  to  the  sigh  of  relief  when  the  awful  vortex  is  cheated 
of  its  prey  there  is  added  the  pleasure  of  pride  in  the 
conquering  intellect  of  puny  man.  The  latter  part  of 
Arthur  Gordon  Pym,  Poe's  one  long  tale,  with  its  pic 
tures  of  the  milky  Antarctic  Ocean  and  the  gigantic  mist- 
curtain  "  ranged  along  the  whole  extent  of  the  southern 
horizon,"  is  poetically  imaginative.  The  Facts  in  the 
Case  of  M.  Valdemar,  however,  is  chiefly  intellectual, 
and  ends  with  a  profitless  and  fearfully  repulsive  descrip 
tion  of  the  physical  corruption  of  death  \  while  Mesmeric 
Revelation  contains  some  of  the  ideas  about  matter  and 
spirit  which  were  afterward  elaborated  in  Eureka. 
Tales  of  Adventure  and  Horror  —  MS.  Found  in  a 
Bottle,  The  Pit  and  the  Pendulum,  the  larger  part  of 

1  See  Woodberry,  pp.  285-301.  Poe  had  a  smattering  of  many 
subjects,  and  great  cleverness  in  making  a  show  of  learning;  see  Wood- 
berry,  pp.  51,  96,  105,  etc. 


EDGAR  ALLAN   POE.  165 

Arthur  Gordon  Pym,  etc.  —  have  relatively  more  of  the 
imaginative  and  supernatural  and  less  of  the  intellectual. 
In  Tales  of  Conscience  —  William  Wilson,  The  Black 
Cat,  The  Tell- Tale  Heart,  etc.  —  narrative  is  subor 
dinate,  terror  is  supreme,  and  it  is  the  terror  of 
conscience.  But  the  moral  aspect  of  conscience  is 
practically  nothing,  the  imaginative  and  psychological 
almost  everything;  the  conscience  itself,  by  poetic 
symbolism,  is  represented  by  something  external  — 
Wilson's  double,  the  dead  man's  beating  heart,  the 
black  cat  with  its  one  flaming  red  eye,  —  and  at  the 
climax  the  interest  is  not  in  the  sin  but  in  the  imagi 
native  situation,  the  madness,  the  horror.  The  theme 
of  deepest  and  most  permanent  fascination  for  Poe  was 
death;  and  in  the  Romances  of  Death  he  approached 
it  from  many  points  of  view  and  in  many  moods.  The 
Assignation  surrounds  death  with  all  the  luxury  of  Old 
World  wealth  and  beauty,  and  with  the  glamour  of  intel 
lect,  genius,  and  proud,  calm  will.  The  Masque  of  the 
Red  Dmth  is  a  magnificent  symphony  of  color  and 
grouping,  whose  theme  is  death  triumphant  over  arrogant 
and  selfish  greatness.  Eleanora  is  a  melody  of  ideal 
love,  which  not  even  ugly  death  can  wholly  rob  of  its 
ineffable  beauty.  The  Fall  of  the  House  of  Usher  is  a 
prose  poem  of  imaginative  fear  connected  with  death 
and  plunging  at  last  into  black  depths  of  madness  and 
annihilation.1  In  Ligeia,  splendidly  terrible,  hung 
round  like  the  bridal  chamber  with  rich,  fantastic  tap- 


1  In  this  tale  Poe's  art  of  symbolizing  the  inner  by  the  outer,  fusing 
the  two  into  a  wonderful  harmony  without  violating  the  individuality  of 
either,  reaches  perfection ;  as  does  also  his  genius  for  unifying  details, 
often  the  merest  touches,  into  one  central  effect  of  piercing  intensity. 


166      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

estries  of  golden  gloom,  death  is  temporarily  conquered 
on  earth  by  the  agonizing  might  of  a  divine  woman's 
will.1  In  Monos  and  Una  and  Eiron  and  Charmion  the 
eternal  victory  of  the  soul,  rising  into  pure  celestial  re 
gions  above  the  wreck  of  matter,  is  portrayed  with  ethe 
reality  if  with  less  of  spectacular  splendor.  The 
Sketches  of  Natural  Beauty  —  The  Island  of  the  Fay, 
Lander's  Cottage,  The  Domain  of  Arnheim —  are  almost 
pure  poetry  in  their  calm  loveliness.  The  last-named 
reveals,  in  unequalled  degree,  Poe's  oriental  riot  in  the 
prodigal  massing  of  all  that  might  ravish  the  senses  with 
voluptuous  pleasure,  yet  convey  to  the  soul,  through  the 
subtle  channels  of  the  imagination,  a  delight  still  more 
entrancing.2 

Poe's  poetry  has  much  in  common  with  his  prose. 
Even  his  analytic  and  synthetic  intellect  appears 
in  a  few  poems  by  its  results,  —  preeminently  in 
The  Raven,  which  has  more  of  clever  mechanism  and 
less  of  the  finer  spirit  of  poetry  than  several  of  the  less 
popular  poems;3  The  Bells  is  yet  more  mechanical, 
although  a  very  skilful  example  of  onomatopoeia  of  the 
obvious  kind.  The  gloomy  hero,  devoted  to  recondite 

1  Berenice  was  a  fore-study  for  the  House  of  Usher  ;   Morella,  for 
Ligeia. 

2  In  the  above  survey,  the  classification  in  Stedman  and  Woodberry's 
edition  of  Poe  has  been  followed,  but  with  some  material  modifications. 
The  tales  there  included  under  "  Extravaganza  and  Caprice,"  where 
come  most  of  Poe's  awkward  attempts  at  humor,  are  too  inferior  for 
consideration  here. 

3  Poe's  account,  in  The  Philosophy  of  Composition,  of  the  manufacture 
of  the  poem    is  doubtless  more  than  half  fiction   (see  Stedman  and 
Woodberry's  edition  of  Poe,  Vol.  X.,  for  other  reports  of  the  mode  of 
its  composition)  ;  but  however  spontaneous  the  main  conception  may 
have  been,  the  elaboration  of  it  bears  as  evident  marks  of  intellectual 
design  as  the  most  cleverly  contrived  of  the  tales. 


EDGAR   ALLAN    POE.  167 

studies  and  a  prey  to  melancholy,  is  a  familiar  figure  in 
both  the  prose  and  the  verse.  And  death,  with  its  sorrow 
and  gloom,  is  the  favorite  theme  of  the  poet  as  of  the 
romancer.  The  two  distinctive  characteristics  of  Poe's 
poetry  are  its  mysticism  and  its  music.  Poe  believed 
that,  far  above  this  low  world,  is  Eternal  Beauty; 
that  through  art  we  get  "brief  and  indeterminate 
glimpses"  of  the  "Supernal  Loveliness";1  that  music 
is  the  most  effective  means  of  producing  that  "  elevating 
excitement  of  the  soul"1  which  yields  these  mystical 
glimpses  into  a  higher  world;  and,  consequently,  that 
"the  vagueness  of  exaltation  aroused  by  a  sweet  air 
(which  should  be  strictly  indefinite  and  never  too 
strongly  suggestive)  is  precisely  what  we  should  aim  at 
in  poetry."2  This  conception  of  a  supernal  world  of 
perfect  and  eternal  beauty  is  the  main  inspiration  of 
Israfel  and  Dreamland ' ;  flickers  vaguely  through  Al 
Aaraaf,  which  it  feebly  rescues  from  absolute  inanity 
and  sensuous  chaos;  and  underlies  many  other  of  the 
poems.  The  purpose  rather  to  produce  moods,  to  exalt 
the  soul  by  beauty,  than  to  convey  ideas,  led  Poe  to 
cultivate  the  purely  musical  side  of  verse  and  to  employ 
much  symbolism,  sometimes  very  vague.  This  tendency 
reached  its  extreme  in  Ulalume,  isolated  lines  of  which 
are  undeniably  ludicrous;  but  the  poem  as  a  whole 
does  express  with  weird  power  a  weird  mood,  in  which 
the  soul,  numb  with  grief,  enveloped  in  a  haze  of  vaguely 
sad  forgetfulness,  floats  on  with  the  aimless,  mazy, 
backward-revolving  movement  of  a  troubled  dream,  until 
it  suddenly  awakes  to  acute  anguish  in  some  "ghoul- 

1  The  Poetic  Principle. 

2  Letter  to  Lowell,  in  Woodberry,  p.  213. 


1 68      THE    LITERATURE    FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

haunted  woodland."  The  desire  to  produce  the  brood 
ing  effect  of  dreamy  moods  was  doubtless  the  reason  why 
Poe  used  the  refrain,  the  repetend,  and  the  parenthetical 
phrase  so  freely;  and  whatever  may  be  thought  of  the 
result  in  Ulalume,  elsewhere  his  success  is  beyond  cavil. 
Symbolism  is  also  used  superbly  in  The  Conqueror  Worm 
and  The  Haunted  Palace,  —  the  one  more  stark  and  sar 
donic  and  having  a  larger  stage,  but  the  other  more  piti 
ful  and  intensely  terrible,  unequalled  in  verse  as  a 
picture  of  the  ruin  of  a  soul  by  madness.  In  The 
Haunted  Palace  also  occur  snatches  of  that  magical 
melody  to  which  Poe,  alone  of  American  poets,  has  ever 
attained :  — 

Banners  yellow,  glorious,  golden, 

On  its  roof  did  float  and  flow, 
(This  —  all  this  —  was  in  the  olden 

Time  long  ago) ; 
And  every  gentle  air  that  dallied, 

In  that  sweet  day, 
Along  the  ramparts  plumed  and  pallid, 

A  winged  odor  went  away.1 

Poe  has  been  accused  of  plagiarism;  but  in  his  best 
work  he  was  emphatically  original,  — no  man  more  so. 
In  fact,  the  difficulty  is  to  find  sufficient  antecedents  for 
him.  In  poetry  he  was  clearly  influenced  by  Byron, 
Coleridge,  Shelley,  and  Keats;  yet,  except  in  a  few 


1  In  The  City  in  the  Sea  are  a  few  lines  perhaps  even  more  full  of 
witchery;  and  the  very  soul  of  Israfel  is  embodied  in  its  versification, 

which  has  in  places  the  upspringing   lightness  of  a  bird. In  the 

above  attempt  to  point  out  the  inter-relations  of  the  criticisms,  tales, 
and  poems,  no  regard  has  been  had  to  chronological  sequence;  but  in 
a  general  way  the  tendency  was  from  poetry  to  intellect,  the  year  1840 
being  approximately  the  water-shed. 


EDGAR   ALLAN   POE.  169 

juvenilia,  his  music  and  style  are  as  individual  as  theirs.1 
His  tales  show  some  indebtedness,  in  subjects  and  gen 
eral  method,  to  Charles  Brockden  Brown,  the  English 
school  of  terror  and  mystery,  and  the  German  senti 
mentalists  and  romancers.2  In  the  arts  of  unity,  con 
densation,  and  clearness,  he  was  evidently  helped  by 
his  intimate  knowledge  of  French  literature.3  And  his 
style,  in  addition  to  Gallic  finish  and  celerity,  has,  when 
occasion  calls,  a  sweet  melancholy,  an  elaborate  ornate- 
ness,  an  impassioned  and  complex  harmony,  which 
remind  one  of  The  English  Mail- Coach  and  Our  Ladies 
of  Sorrow.  To  his  American  environment,  Poe  cer 
tainly  owed  nothing  but  poverty  and  fetters.  But,  in 
spite  of  all,  he  managed  to  produce  a  few  poems  and 
tales  which  are  perfect  of  their  kind  and  greatly 
raised  the  standard  of  art  in  American  literature. 
There  is  no  need  to  dwell  upon  the  obvious  limitations 
of  his  work  —  its  lack  of  mental  breadth,  of  moral  and 
spiritual  significance,  of  wholesome  humanity.  Poe  was 

1  Of  Annabel  Lee  Mr.  Stedrnan  says,  "  The  refrain  and  measure  .  .  . 
suggest  a  reversion,  in  the  music-haunted  brain  of  its   author,  to  the 
songs  and  melodies  that  are  .  .  .  favorites  of  the  colored  race."  —  Intro 
duction  to  the   Poems,  in  Stedman  and  Woodberry's  edition  of  Poe, 
Vol.  X.     The  germ  of  the  metrical  movement  of  Ulalume  may  perhaps 
be  felt  in  the  song  which  closes  Scene  4,  Act  II.,  of  Prometheus   Un 
bound.     Lady   Geraldines   Courtship,  by   Mrs.  Browning   (whom    Poe 
greatly  admired),  apparently  suggested  the  metre  of   The  Raven,  and  a 
phrase  or  two  in  it  besides. 

2  Stedman  has  pointed  out  certain  striking   resemblances   between 
Poe's  work  and  that  of  Ernst  Hoffmann  (1776-1822)  ;   see  his   Intro 
duction  to  the  Tales  in  Stedman  and  Woodberry's  edition  of  Poe, 
Vol.  I. 

3  During  Poe's  lifetime  the  French   mind  began  to  recognize  the 
affinity  between  his  genius  and  its  own.     Baudelaire  translated  his  tales 
with  remarkable  imaginative  sympathy ;  and  they  have  been  widely  read, 
especially  in  France  and  Spain. 


i?o      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

no  sun  shedding  its  genial  beams  broadcast  over  the 
earth;  but  he  was  at  least  an  arc-light  shining  brilliantly, 
and  picturesquely  heightening  the  shadows,  in  the  Place 
of  Tombs. 

In  spite  of  some  limitations  as  compared  with  the 
Southern  and  the  Middle  States,  New  England  on  the 
whole  maintained  her  intellectual  and  literary  preemi 
nence,  Massachusetts  in  particular  being  prolific  of 
poets,  essayists,  and  writers  of  novels.  Of  the  minor 
authors  many  were  deservedly  popular  in  their  day;  but 
a  bird's-eye  view  of  them  is  all  that  is  possible  here. 
RICHARD  H.  DANA  (1787-1879),  a  Boston  lawyer  and 
politician,  associate  editor  of  The  North  American 
Revieiv  in  1818-1820,  wrote  better  prose  than  verse. 
The  Buccaneer  (1827)  is  based  on  a  finely  poetical 
sea-superstition,  but  is  awkwardly  told;  all  his  poems 
seem  manufactured,  and  most  are  dull.  His  reviews 
of  Brown,  Irving,  and  others,  in  The  North  American, 
are  sensible,  and  the  style  is  clear  and  strong.  The 
tales,  Tom  Thornton  and  Paul  Felton  (in  his  periodical, 
The  Idle  Man,  1821-1822),  have  considerable  power, 
although  the  didacticism  of  the  first  is  too  obvious  and 
the  second  is  a  rather  violent  imitation  of  Brown.  The 
hymns  of  JOHN  PIERPONT  (1785-1866),  a  Boston  Uni 
tarian  clergyman  and  ardent  abolitionist,  have  merit, 
and  his  Anti-Slavery  Poems  (1843)  are  hot  and  strong. 
CHARLES  SPRAGUE  (1791-1825),  a  Boston  bank  cashier, 
was  a  facile  "occasional"  poet,  winning  several  prizes 
for  prologues  and  sounding  odes;  one  passage  from  his 
flowery  oration  on  American  Independence  (1825),  re 
ferring  to  the  time  when  "  the  rank  thistle  nodded  in  the 


MINOR   AUTHORS.  171 

wind,"  still  lingers  in  the  memories  of  grown-up  school 
boys.  A  man  of  more  native  literary  gift  was  JAMES 
A.  HILLHOUSE  (1789-1841),  a  retired  Connecticut 
merchant,  whose  Dramas,  Discourses,  and  Other  Pieces 
(1839)  exhibit  taste  and  skill;  Demetria  in  particular, 
a  tragedy  of  love,  jealousy,  poison,  and  death  in  old 
Florence,  although  the  characterization  is  weak,  has 
easy  blank  verse  and  finish  and  purity  of  style,  with  now 
and  then  a  striking  phrase.  LYDIA  H.  SIGOURNEY  (1791- 
1865),  long  resident  in  Hartford,  by  her  all  too  numer 
ous  moral  and  sentimental  works  in  verse  and  prose 
(Moral  Pieces,  1815;  Letters  to  Young  Ladies,  1833; 
The  Weeping  Willow,  1847;  Lays  of  the  Heart,  1848; 
Whisper  to  a  Bride,  1850;  etc.),  obtained  the  coveted 
title  of  "the  American  Mrs.  Hemans";  she  is  still  use 
ful  as  an  index  to  the  taste  of  the  times,  which  left  its 
impress  upon  greater  writers  as  well,  and  helps  to  explain 
some  of  their  artistic  shortcomings.  JOHN  NEAL  (1793- 
1876),  a  native  of  Maine,  whose  The  Battle  of  Niagara 
was  mentioned  on  an  earlier  page,  threw  himself,  with 
like  impetuosity  and  buoyant  egotism,  into  journalism, 
literary  criticism,  the  composition  of  dramas,  and  novel- 
writing;  his  novels  (Keep  Cool,  1817;  Seventy-Six, 
1823;  Brother  Jonathan,  1825;  etc.)  met  with  some 
success,  but,  like  all  his  work,  lack  finish  and  repose, 
and  have  passed  away.  The  works  of  three  female 
novelists  have  pretty  much  shared  the  same  fate.  MARIA 
G.  BROOKS  (1795-1845),  wife  of  a  Boston  merchant,  in 
her  semi-autobiographical  tale,  Idomen,  or  the  Vale  of 
Yumuri  (1843),  was  the  ^rst  American  to  describe  suc 
cessfully  the  climate  of  Cuba  and  the  sensuous  luxury 
of  Cuban  life.  Her  poems  — Judith,  Esther,  and  Other 


172      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

Poems  (1820)  and  Zophiel,  or  the  Bride  of  Seven  (1833), 
the  latter  on  the  model  of  Moore  and  Southey  —  show 
the  same  love  of  sensuous  beauty.1  CATHARINE  M. 
SEDGWICK  (1789-1867),  for  half  a  century  principal  of  a 
young  ladies'  school  at  Stockbridge,  Mass.,  wrote  many 
novels,  naturally  of  a  paler  hue,  including  A  New  Eng 
land  Tale  (1822),  Redwood  (1824),  Hope  Leslie,  or 
Early  Times  in  the  Massachusetts  (1827),  The  Linwoods, 
or  Sixty  Years  Since  in  America'2'  (1835),  Married  or 
Single?  (1857),  and  many  others.  The  novels  of  LYDIA 
M.  CHILD  (1802-1880),  of  Massachusetts,  which  are 
also  deficient  in  brilliancy  and  power,  show  the  same 
trend  toward  subjects  from  American  history;  she  was 
precocious,  Hobomok :  a  Tale  of  Early  Times,  appearing 
in  1821,  and  The  Rebels  (describing  the  sacking  of  Gov 
ernor  Hutchinson's  house  by  a  mob,  and  the  Boston 
Massacre)  in  1822.  WILLIAM  WARE  (1797-1852),  a  Mas 
sachusetts  clergyman,  was  a  prolific  writer,  but  is  best 
known  by  his  historical  romances,  Zenobia,  or  the  Fall 
of  Palmyra  (1838)  and  Aurelian,  or  Rome  in  the  Third 
Century  (1848),  in  the  form  of  letters  by  a  Roman 
noble.  JAMES  G.  PERCIVAL  (1795-1856),  of  Connecticut, 
had  remarkable  versatility,  being  surgeon  in  the  army, 
professor  of  chemistry  at  West  Point,  geologist,  reviser 
of  Webster's  Dictionary  (he  was  acquainted  with  San 
skrit,  Basque,  Gallic,  Norse,  Danish,  Swedish,  and 
Russian),  and  poet.  Prometheus  (1820)  has  the  Byronic 
gloom,  but  in  Clio  (1822-1827)  and  The  Poetical  Works 
(1859)  Shelley  is  the  prevailing  influence.  Percival's 

1  Southey,  whom  she  met  in  1831,  admired  her  poetry  and  gave  her 
the  name  of  "  Maria  del  Occidente." 

'2  Unfortunately  its  likeness  to  Waverley  is  only  title-deep. 


MINOR  AUTHORS  i?3 

poetry  is  often  brilliant  with  delicate  color  and  suffused 
with  ideal  beauty;  but  it  is  wanting  in  concentration 
and  unity  of  effect,  and,  like  so  much  good  verse  that 
has  failed  to  live,  reminds  one  of  Browning's  lines:  — 

Oh,  the  little  more,  and  how  much  it  is ! 
And  the  little  less,  and  what  worlds  away ! 

JOHN  G.  C.  BRAINARD  (1796-1828),  another  Connecti 
cut  poet,  wrote  of  American  scenery,  history,  and 
superstitions  with  considerable  poetic  feeling  and  some 
skill  in  expression.  ALBERT  G.  GREENE  (1802-1868), 
a  Providence  lawyer,  still  lives  in  the  death  of  "Old 
Grimes."  l  EMMA  H.  WILLARD  (1787-1870),  who  wrote 
Rocked  in  the  Cradle  of  the  Deep;  SAMUEL  F.  SMITH 
(1808-1895),  author  of  America  (1832);  SARAH  H. 
WHITMAN  (1803-1878),  Poe's  friend  and  defender,  and 
a  graceful  versifier;  GEORGE  LUNT  (1803-1885),  who 
wrote  light  lyrics  and  pleasant  nature  poems;  FRANCES 
S.  OSGOOD  (1811-1850),  another  of  Poe's  friends  and  a 
poetess  of  the  prettily  sentimental  type;  ALBERT  PIKE 
(1809-1891),  whose  once  well-known  Hymns  to  the  Gods 
(1829,  1830,  1845)  have  much  rhetorical  ability;  EPES 
SARGENT  (1813-1880"),  author  of  several  novels  and 
plays,  but  remembered  now  only  by  A  Life  on  the  Ocean 
Wave  (in  Songs  of  t lie  Sea,  1847);  and  Longfellow's 
brother  —  SAMUEL  LONGFELLOW  (1819-1892),  — a  Unita 
rian  clergyman,  whose  hymns  and  other  religious  poems 
are  of  singular  purity  and  calm  —  can  all  receive  but  this 
passing  glance.  SYLVESTER  JUDD  (1813-1853),  a  Unita- 

1  It  would  be  inexcusable  not  to  record  gratefully,  in  passing,  that 
Mr.  Greene  was  the  beginner  of  the  Harris  collection  of  American 
Poetry,  which  has  been  simply  invaluable  in  the  preparation  of  this  book. 


174      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

rian  clergyman,  faithfully  described  New  England  life 
and  scenery  in  his  novels,  Margaret  (1845)  and  Richard 
Edney  (1850);  he  also  wrote  Philo  (1850),  a  Unitarian 
epic.  RICHARD  H.  DANA,  JR.  (1815-1882),  a  Massa 
chusetts  lawyer,  was  the  author  of  the  famous  Two 
Years  before  the  Mast  (1840),  a  book  having  the  reality 
of  personal  experience  and  the  interest  of  a  romance. 
The  continued  popularity  of  Reveries  of  a  Bachelor 
(1850)  and  Dream  Life  (1851),  by  DONALD  G.  MITCHELL 
(1822-),  or  "Ik  Marvel,"  shows  that  some  portion  of 
Irving' s  spirit  has  descended  upon  him.  HENRY  H. 
BROWNELL,  U.  S.  N.  (1820-1872),  of  Rhode  Island  and 
Connecticut,  wrote  War  Lyrics  and  Other  Poems  (1866), 
including  one  of  the  best  poems  occasioned  by  the  Civil 
War,  The  Bay  Fight,  a  stirring  and  powerful  description 
of  the  battle  of  Mobile  Bay.  Another  war  lyric,  Battle 
Hymn  of  the  Republic  (1862),  by  JULIA  WARD  HOWE 
(1819-)  has  superb  swing  and  exalted  religious  pas 
sion;  her  other  poems  are  commonplace.  The  most 
famous  book  occasioned  by  the  conditions  out  of  which 
the  Civil  War  arose  is  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  (185 1-185  2)> * 
by  HARRIET  BEECHER  STOWE  (1812-1896),  a  native  of 
Connecticut.  The  novel  has  grave  literary  blemishes, 
and  as  an  interpretation  of  Southern  life  is  very  faulty. 
Nevertheless  it  has  certain  elements  of  greatness.  It 
would  be  superfluous  to  praise  the  moral  intensity, 
pathos,  descriptive  genius,  and  dramatic  power  of  a 
book  that  stirred  North  and  South  to  the  depths; 


1  It  appeared  first  as  a  serial  in  the  Washington  National  Era,  June, 
1851,  to  April,  1852.  In  five  years  half  a  million  copies  had  been  sold 
in  the  United  States,  and  the  sale  in  England  was  enormous.  The  book 
has  been  translated  into  several  foreign  languages. 


MINOR   AUTHORS.  175 

dramatized,  was  acted  night  after  night  before  delighted 
audiences  who  would  have  mobbed  an  abolitionist  ora 
tor;  set  far-away  Paris  to  weeping;  and,  after  half  a 
century,  when  the  political  issues  that  gave  rise  to  it 
have  become  obsolete,  still  finds  many  readers  of  ma 
ture  years  and  holds  countless  boys  and  girls  from  play. 
Mrs.  Stowe's  numerous  other  books  are  practically  for 
gotten.  The  high  promise  of  the  novels  Cecil  Dreeme 
(1861)  2i^  John  Brent  (1862),  by  THEODORE  WINTHROP 
(1828-1861),  a  descendant  of  Governor  Winthrop,  made 
doubly  sad  the  author's  untimely  death  in  battle.  As 
a  critic  and  lecturer  EDWIN  P.  WHIPPLE  (1819-1886), 
long  resident  in  Boston,  was  conspicuous  for  many 
years,  and  his  best  essays  are  still  read  by  the  student 
of  literature  for  their  keen  analysis  and  fine  literary 
sense;  but  he  was  not  a  great  critic,  and  his  books 
lack  that  charm  of  manner  and  richness  of  thought 
which  make  Lowell's  and  Arnold's  critical  essays  litera 
ture.1  The  sculptor  WILLIAM  W.  STORY  (1819-1895),  son 
of  Chief  Justice  Story,  and  a  native  of  Salem,  who  for 
sook  law  for  art  and  took  up  his  residence  in  Italy  in 
1848,  was  a  poet  of  fine  culture  and  a  delightful  writer  on 
art  and  letters.2  The  influence  of  Tennyson  prevailed 
in  the  manner  of  his  earlier  verses,  which  are  mostly 

1  His  principal  writings  are  Essays  and  Reviews,  1848  ;  Literature  and 
Life,  1849;    Character  and  Characteristic  Men,  1866;  Literature  of  the 
Age  of  Elizabeth,  1869;  Success  and  its  Conditions,  1871;  Recollections 
of  Eminent  Men,  1886;  American  Literature  and  Other  Papers,  1887; 
Outlooks  on  Society,  Literature,  and  Politics,  1888. 

2  His  principal  writings  are  Nature  and  Art  (poem),  1844;   Poems, 
1847,  1856,  1886;  Roba  di  Roma,  or  Walks  and  Talks  about  Rome,  1862; 
Graffiti  d'  Italia  (poems),  1868;  A  Roman  Lawyer  in  Jerusalem  :  First 
Century,  1870 ;  Nero,  1875  ;  Castle  of  St.  Angelo,  1877  ;  He  and  She  :  or  a 
Poet's  Portfolio,  1883;  Fiammeta:  a  Summer  Idyl,  1885;    Conversations 
in  a  Studio,  1890;  Excursions  in  Art  and  Letters,  1891. 


i;6      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

lyrics,  daintily  choice  in  diction  and  imagery,  while 
Browning  is  his  model  in  the  rest.  Mr.  Story  excels  in 
expressing  intangible,  dreamy,  misty  moods,  and  in 
handling  motives  derived  from  art.  Pan  in  Love, 
Praxiteles  and  Phryne,  and  Cleopatra  are  three  of  his 
best  poems,  —  the  last  a  superb  interpretation  of  the 
Egyptian  voluptuary's  tiger  soul,  leopard-like,  too,  in 
splendid,  lazy  luxuriousness.  THOMAS  W.  PARSONS 
(1819-1892),  a  native  of  Boston,  who  practised  there 
and  in  England  his  profession  of  dental  surgeon,  was  an 
accomplished  Dante  scholar  and  a  poet  of  exquisitely 
fine  grain  though  of  limited  range.1  He  did  not  write 
much,  but  nearly  all  is  precious  for  its  justness  of  thought 
and  feeling,  its  classic  finish,  artistic  restraint,  and 
terse  strength,  without  frigidity,  and  its  occasional  quiet 
pleasantry  and  Attic  wit.  His  translation  of  the  Inferno, 
in  terza  rima,  is  highly  prized  by  scholar-poets,  and  his 
lines  On  a  Bust  of  Dante  have  much  of  the  master's 
austere  beauty  and  sadness.  JOSIAH  G.  HOLLAND  (1819- 
1881),  an  editor  of  The  Springfield  Republican  (1849- 
1866)  and  founder  of  The  Century  Magazine,  was  of  more 
ordinary  temper;  but  his  poems,  which  deal  much  with 
domestic  love  and  sorrow,  have  a  refined  sweetness  and 
purity  of  spirit,  and  his  novels  are  clever  and  gracious. 
In  the  literary  atmosphere  implied  by  the  presence 
and  activity  of  so  many  talented  authors,  lived  and  wrote 
six  poets,  essayists,  and  novelists  whose  works  consti 
tute  a  large  part  of  the  strength  and  beauty  of  American 

1  His  principal  writings  are  a  translation  of  Dante  (Inferno  :  Cantos 
I.-X.,  1843;  Cantos  I.-XVIL,  1865;  complete,  1867;  portions  of  Pur- 
gatorio  and  Paradise,  1893)  ;  Poems,  1854;  The  Magnolia  and  Other 
Poems,  1867;  The  Old  House  at  Sudbury,  1870;  The  Shadow  of  the  Obe 
lisk,  and  Other  Poems,  1872. 


HENRY   WADSWORTH    LONGFELLOW.        177 

literature.  Longfellow,  Emerson,  Hawthorne,  Whittier, 
Lowell,  and  Holmes  were,  with  one  exception,  natives  of 
Massachusetts,  and  all  were  long  resident  there,  most  of 
them  living  in  or  near  Boston  or  Cambridge.  This  con 
centration  of  literary  talent  and  genius  in  one  state,  and 
in  the  neighborhood  of  one  city,  was  not  an  accident. 
As  we  have  already  seen,  New  England  had  from  colonial 
days  been  the  intellectual  and  literary  leader  of  the 
country;  Massachusetts  was  the  head  of  New  England; 
and  Boston  was  the  eye  of  Massachusetts.  By  heredity, 
tradition,  and  acquired  momentum  the  Bay  State  still 
kept  the  lead  in  mental  activity;  Unitarianism  and  the 
Transcendental  movement  added  an  intellectual  freedom 
and  freshness  not  elsewhere  attained  so  early  in  like 
degree;  and  Harvard  College,  its  roots  now  deep  in  the 
past,  bore  in  larger  measure  with  every  succeeding  year 
the  beautiful  fruit  of  a  ripe  culture. 

The   life   of    HENRY  WADSWORTH   LONGFELLOW  l  was 

1  LIFE.  Born  in  Portland,  Me.,  Feb.  27,  1807.  Educated  in  private 
schools  and  Portland  Academy,  1810-1821 ;  at  Bowdoin  College,  enter 
ing  the  sophomore  class,  1822-1825.  In  France,  Spain,  Italy,  Germany, 
England,  1826-1829.  Professor  of  Modern  Languages  at  Bowdoin, 
1829-1835.  Married  Mary  S.  Potter,  1831.  In  England,.Denmark,  Swe 
den,  Holland,  Germany,  Switzerland,  1835-1836.  Wife  died,  1835. 
Professor  of  Modern  Languages  at  Harvard,  1836-1854 ;  lodging  in  the 
Craigie  House,  1837-1843.  In  France,  Germany,  England,  1842.  Mar 
ried  Frances  E.  Appleton,  1843  ;  her  father  purchased  the  Craigie  House 
for  the  poet,  1843 ;  two  sons  and  four  daughters  (one  of  whom  died  in 
infancy)  were  born  to  him.  Wife  died,  1861.  In  England,  Germany, 
Switzerland,  France,  Italy,  Scotland,  1868-1869.  Received  degree  of 
LL.D.  from  Cambridge  University,  England,  1868;  of  D.C.L.  from 
Oxford,  1869.  Longfellow  Day  established  in  Cincinnati  public  schools, 
1880.  Died  in  Cambridge,  Mass.,  March  24,  1882;  was  buried  at  Mt. 
Auburn.  Bust  of  the  poet  placed  in  Westminster  Abbey,  1884.  A 
Unitarian. 

WORKS.  Miscellaneous  Poems  selected  from  The  United  States  Lit 
erary  Gazette,  1826.  Coplas  de  Don  Jorge  Manrique,  translated  from 
N 


178      THE   LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

singularly  beautiful,  the  more  beautiful  for  the  deep 
shadows  that  suddenly  fell  athwart  its  placid  sunshine. 
The  best  New  England  blood  ran  in  his  veins.  His 
mother,  an  ardent  lover  of  poetry,  music,  and  nature, 
was  descended  from  John  Alden.  His  father,  an  emi 
nent  lawyer  and  a  trustee  of  Bowdoin  College,  came  of 
Yorkshire  stock  transplanted  to  Massachusetts  about  the 
year  1676.  The  child  was  from  the  first  truthful, 
gentle,  and  studious,  having  natural  beauty  and  grace  of 
soul;  and  yet,  although  girlishly  averse  to  rudeness  and 
vulgarity,  he  was  essentially  a  manly  boy.  At  the  age 
of  thirteen  he  wrote  a  poem  which  was  printed  in  The 
Portland  Gazette  ;x  it  was  not  remarkable,  nor  were  the 
other  verses  and  the  essays  which  he  contributed  to  vari 
ous  periodicals  during  his  school  and  college  life.  At 
Bowdoin  he  graduated  fourth  in  a  class  of  thirty -eight; 
Hawthorne  was  one  of  his  classmates,  but  the  two  were 

the  Spanish ;  with  an  Introductory  Essay  on  the  Moral  and  Devotional 
Poetry  of  Spain,  1833.  The  Schoolmaster  (six  contributions  to  The 
New  England  Magazine ,  being  first  sketches  for  Outre-Mer),  1831-1833. 
Outre-Mer,  No.  I.,  1833;  No.  II.,  1834;  completed  in  book  form,  1835. 
Hyperion,  1839.  Voices  of  the  Night,  1839.  Ballads  and  Other  Poems, 
1841.  Poems  on  Slavery,  1842.  The  Spanish  Student,  1843.  The 
Belfry  of  Bruge.s  and  Other  Poems,  1845  (imprint,  1846).  Evangeline, 
1847.  Kavanagh,  1849.  The  Seaside  and  the  Fireside,  1850.  The 
Golden  Legend,  1851.  The  Song  of  Hiawatha,  1855.  The  Courtship 
of  Miles  Standish,  1858.  Tales  of  a  Wayside  Inn  (First  Day),  1863. 
Flower-de-Luce,  1867.  Translation  of  Dante's  Div'ma  Commedia,  1867- 
1870.  The  New  England  Tragedies,  1868.  The  Divine  Tragedy,  1871. 
Christus  (consisting  of  the  Golden  Legend,  The  New  England  Trage 
dies,  and  the  Divine  Tragedy),  1872.  Three  Books  of  Song  (con 
taining  Tales  of  a  Wayside  Inn,  Second  Day;  etc.),  1872.  Aftermath 
(containing  Tales  of  a  Wayside  Inn,  Third  Day;  etc.),  1873.  The 
Masque  of  Pandora  and  Other  Poems,  1875.  Keramos  and  Other  Poems, 
1878.  Ultima  Thule,  1880.  In  the  Harbor,  1882.  Michael  Angelo,  1883. 
Several  of  the  shorter  poems  were  published  first  in  magazines. 

1  Longfellow  denied  that  he  wrote  the  doggerel  about  Mr.  Finney  and 
the  turnip.     See  Longfellow's  life  of  Longfellow,  Vol.  I.,  p.  22. 


HENRY   WADSWORTH    LONGFELLOW.        179 

not  yet  intimate.  After  graduation,  being  offered  the 
professorship  of  modern  languages  in  his  Alma  Mater, 
he  went  abroad  to  fit  himself  more  fully  for  the  position. 
On  his  return  he  entered  zealously  upon  his  duties,  and 
was  a  popular  and  inspiring  teacher.  He  also  found 
time  to  contribute  articles  to  The  North  American 
Review,  and  to  write  his  first  book.  At  the  end  of  five 
years,  being  invited  to  succeed  George  Ticknor  in  the 
chair  of  modern  languages  at  Harvard  University,  he 
sailed  again  for  Europe  to  perfect  his  knowledge  of 
German  and  to  study  the  Scandinavian  tongues.  The 
death  of  his  wife  in  Rotterdam,  after  a  short  illness, 
was  a  cruel  blow;  but  he  held  to  his  course,  and  out  of 
his  sorrow  and  his  deeper  acquaintance  with  the  life 
and  literature  of  Germany  came,  in  after  years,  the 
romance  Hyperion  and  the  distinctive  quality  of  many 
of  his  poems. 

Longfellow's  life  at  Cambridge  for  many  years  flowed 
on  with  the  tranquil  beauty  of  his  own  beloved  river 
Charles.  His  surroundings  were  congenial.  Professor 
Felton  and  Charles  Sumner  soon  became  his  intimate 
friends,1  and  he  had  delightful  companionship  with 
Sparks,  Prescott,  Ticknor,  Norton,  Emerson,  Haw 
thorne,  Holmes,  Lowell,  and  others. a  The  void  in  his 

1  The  three,  with  George  S.  Hillard  and  Henry  R.  Cleveland,  formed 
a  circle  which   they  called    "  The  Five  of  Clubs."      The  newspapers 
afterward  dubbed  it  "  The  Mutual  Admiration  Society,"  because  the 
members  reviewed  each  other's  writings  favorably ;  over  one  such  review 
a  reader  wrote,  "  Insured  in  the  Mutual." 

2  In   a   letter   to   his   friend,  George  W.   Greene,  in   1838,  he  thus 
describes  his  life  during  the  summer  vacation :  "  I  breakfast  at  seven 
on  tea  and  toast,  and  dine  at  five  or  six,  generally  in  Boston.     In  the 
evening  I  walk  on  the  Common  with  Hillard,  or  alone ;  then  go  back 
to  Cambridge  on  foot.     If  not  very  late,  I  sit  an  hour  with  Felton  or 
Sparks.     For  nearly  two  years  I  have  not  studied  at  night.  .  .  .     Most 


i8o      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

life  which  even  his  friends  could  not  remove  was  at 
length  filled  by  his  marriage  to  a  lovely  woman  of  culti 
vated  intellect;  and  children  came,  to  make  his  cup  of 
domestic  happiness  overflow.  As  a  professor  he  was 
popular;  but  finding  that  the  routine  dulled  his  poetic 
powers,  he  finally  resigned.1  His  poems  meanwhile  had 
been  winning  a  wider  and  wider  circle  of  readers.2 
His  family  were  growing  up  around  him  in  health  and 
happiness,  and  the  bonds  uniting  him  to  his  wife  had 
only  strengthened  with  time.  The  tranquil  joy  of  his 
life  seemed  but  the  natural  and  due  reward  of  the  beauty 
of  his  character.3  Suddenly,  with  no  more  warning  than 
precedes  the  lightning  flash,  there  fell  upon  him  a 

of  the  time  am  alone ;  smoke  a  good  deal ;  wear  a  broad-brimmed 
black  hat,  black  frock-coat,  black  cane.  Molest  no  one.  Dine  out 
frequently.  In  winter  go  much  into  Boston  society."  —  Longfellow's 
life  of  Longfellow,  Vol.  I.,  p.  293. 

1  "  The  seventy  lectures  to  which  I  am  doomed  next  year  hang  over 
me  like  a  dark  curtain."  —  Journal,  April  22,  1850.     "  This  college  work 
is  like  a  great  hand  laid  on  all  the  strings  of  my  lyre,  stopping  their 
vibration."  —  Journal,  Nov.  18,  1850. 

2  By  1857,  the  sales  of  his  works  in  the  United  States  alone  had  been 
as  follows:    Voices  of  the  Night,  43,550 ;  Ballads,  etc.,  40,470 ;   Spanish 
Student,  38,400;   Belfry  of  Bruges,  38,300;  Evangeline,  35,850;   Seaside, 
etc.,  30,000;     Golden  Legend,   17,188;    Hiawatha,  50,000;    Outre-Afer, 
7500;   Hyperion,   14,550;   Kavanagh,  10,500.     Of  Miles  Standish,  5000 
copies  were  sold  in  Boston  by  noon  of  the  first  day;  in  London,  10,000 
the  first  day. —  Longfellow's  life  of  Longfellow,  Vol.  II.,  pp.  295,  325-327. 
The  poet's  income  from  his  writings  was  $219  in  1840;  $517  in  1842; 
$1800  in  1846;  $1900  in  1850;   then  $2500  and  $1100.  —  Final  Memo 
rials,  p.  435. 

»  His  freedom  from  bitterness,  and  his  sunny-hearted  charity,  at  a 
point  where  authors  are  apt  to  be  most  sensitive,  is  illustrated  by  his 
remark  upon  hearing  of  the  death  of  Poe,  who  had  accused  him  of 
plagiarism  and  ridiculed  his  hexameters :  "  What  a  melancholy  death 
is  that  of  Mr.  Poe,  —  a  man  so  richly  endowed  with  genius  !  .  .  .  The 
harshness  of  his  criticisms  I  have  never  attributed  to  anything  but  the 
irritation  of  a  sensitive  nature  chafed  by  some  indefinite  sense  of 
wrong."  —  Longfellow's  life  of  Longfellow,  Vol.  II.,  p.  150. 


HENRY   WADSWORTH    LONGFELLOW.        181 

calamity,  the  sorest  which  could  come  to  a  man  of  such 
depth  of  domestic  affection.  His  wife  was  one  day  sit 
ting  in  the  library,  sealing  up  some  packages  of  her 
little  daughters'  curls,  when  a  match  set  fire  to  her  dress; 
Longfellow  was  himself  severely  burned  in  his  efforts  to 
put  out  the  flames,  but  she  died  the  next  day.  "He 
bore  his  grief  with  courage  and  in  silence.  .  .  .  To 
a  brother  far  distant  he  wrote :  'And  now,  of  what  we 
are  both  thinking  I  can  write  no  word.  God's  will 
be  done.'  To  a  visitor,  who  expressed  the  hope  that 
he  might  be  enabled  to  'bear  his  cross  '  with  patience, 
he  replied:  'Bear  the  cross,  yes;  but  what  if  one  is 
stretched  upon  it?'"1  Gradually,  however,  his  cheer 
fulness  returned,  although  at  the  depths  he  was  hence 
forth  a  lonely  man.  After  his  last  trip  abroad,  he  passed 
his  days  in  quiet  content  and  leisurely  labor  beneath 
the  Cambridge  elms.  One  by  one  many  of  his  old 
friends  fell  by  the  way,  and  in  1881  his  own  health 
began  to  show  signs  of  breaking.  His  last  illness, 
however,  was  brief.  On  a  Saturday  four  schoolboys 
from  Boston  visited  him,  and  were  kindly  enter 
tained;  with  one  exception,  they  were  the  last  guests 
of  the  "Children's  Poet."  That  night  he  was  taken 
violently  ill.  On  the  following  Friday  he  died,  and 
two  nations  mourned  at  his  grave.  "The  key  to  his 
character,"  writes  his  brother,  "was  sympathy.  This 
made  him  the  gentle  and  courteous  receiver  of  every 
visitor,  however  obscure,  however  tedious;  the  ready  re- 
sponder  to  every  appeal  to  his  pity  and  his  purse;  .  .  . 
the  charitable  judge  of  motives,  and  excuser  of  mistakes 
and  offences;  the  delicate  yet  large  liker.  .  .  .  This 

1  Longfellow's  life  of  Longfellow,  Vol.  II.,  p.  369. 


182      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

gave  to  his  poetry  the  human  element  which  made  .  .  . 
in  thousands  of  hearts  in  many  lands  a  shrine  of  rever 
ence  and  affection  for  his  name."  ] 

Longfellow's  magazine  articles2  had  no  permanent 
value,  and  his  prose  romances  appealed  to  a  taste  which 
has  largely  passed  away.  In  Outre-Mer  one  may,  how 
ever,  still  enjoy  the  freshness  of  a  young  poet's  delight 
in  visiting  the  enchanted  land  of  France,  Spain,  and 
Italy.  Hyperion,  which  is  essentially  autobiographical, 
runs  over  with  poetic  enthusiasm  for  the  newly  dis 
covered  wealth  of  romance  in  German  scenery,  legend, 
and  literature,  at  the  same  time  teaching,  after  Goethe, 
that  sorrow  is  good  for  the  soul.3  Kavanagh  paints  life 
in  a  New  England  village  with  the  quietness  and  thinness 
of  a  water-color.  In  manner,  all  three  show  strongly  the 
influence  of  Irving,  through  whose  Sketch-Book  Long 
fellow  in  boyhood  entered  the  wonder- world  of  literature ; 
but,  especially  in  Hyperion,  the  style  is  more  flowery,  and 
the  sentiment  more  often  degenerates  into  sentimen 
tality.  Yet  the  books  are  full  of  their  author's  sweet 
graciousness,  and  contain  passages  of  pure  and  delicate 
beauty. 

Longfellow's  verse  includes  lyrics  and  other  short 
poems,  long  narrative  poems,  dramas,  and  translations. 
Most  of  the  short  poems  may  be  roughly  classified,  ac 
cording  to  their  predominant  element,  into  three  groups, 


1  Life  of  Longfellow,  Vol.  II.,  p.  474. 

2  As  Origin  and  Progress  of  the  French  Language  (North  America?! 
Review,  April,  1831)  ;    The  Defence  of  Poetry  (ibid.,  January,   1832)  ; 
Hawthorne's  Twice  Told  Tales' (ibid.,  July,  1837)  ;  Anglo-Saxon  Litera 
ture  (ibid.,  July,  1838). 

3  Richter,  however,  seems  to  have  made  the  strongest  impression 
upon  Longfellow  at  this  time. 


HENRY   WADSWORTH    LONGFELLOW.        183 

which,  however,  flow  into  each  other  freely,  —  didactic 
poems,  poems  of  the  affections,  and  poems  more  imagi 
native  and  objective.  The  didactic  poems,  A  Psalm  of 
Life  at  their  head,  often  contain  more  preaching  than 
poetry.  In  some  of  them,  however,  as  The  Rainy  Day, 
the  lesson  is  gracefully  combined  with  poetic  beauty.  It 
must  be  remembered,  also,  that  Longfellow  was  writing 
chiefly  for  the  descendants  of  Puritans,  and  gave  them 
as  much  pure  beauty  as  many  were  capable  of  receiving. 
In  poems  of  the  second  group,  of  which  The  Village 
Blacksmith  and  The  Old  Clock  on  the  Stairs  are  repre 
sentative,  pictorial  or  emotional  elements  are  a  larger 
part  of  the  whole,  and  exist  more  for  their  own  sake. 
These  simple  poems,  in  which  Longfellow  touches  the 
human  heart  with  gentle  power,  contain  some  of  his 
most  characteristic  work.  His  lines  about  children,  and 
about  his  friends  living  or  dead,  still  further  prove  his 
right  to  be  called  the  poet  of  the  domestic  affections. 
And  his  words  upon  the  sorrow  and  mystery  of  life,  and 
upon  the  consolations  of  religion  —  which  with  him  is 
always  a  very  human  thing,  —  are  so  full  of  natural 
nobleness  and  childlike  reverence  that  they  soothe  and 
purify.  In  poems  of  the  third  group  the  imaginative 
and  poetic  quality  is  occasionally  high.  As  poetry  the 
Midnight  Mass  for  the  Dying  Year  is  worth  innumerable 
Psalms  of  Life  ;  and  it  is  almost  incredible  that  Excelsior 
came  from  the  same  hand,  and  at  the  same  time,  as  the 
finely  imaginative  Skeleton  in  Armor.  The  many  poems 
whose  subject,  manner,  and  metre  are  derived  from  for 
eign  sources,  especially  from  German,  remind  us  anew 
how  great  was  this  scholar-poet's  indebtedness  to  the 
history,  legends,  life,  and  literatures  of  the  Old  World. 


1 84      THE    LITERATURE    FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

The  nature  poems,  on  the  other  hand,  often  show  the 
influence  of  Bryant.  But  even  in  lines  most  after  the 
manner  of  the  earlier  poet,  as  The  Spirit  of  Poetry  and 
Rain  in  Summer,  there  is  felt  the  tender  grace  peculiar 
to  Longfellow;  while  in  poetry  of  the  sea  the  author  of 
The  Wreck  of  the  Hesperus,  The  Building  of  the  Ship, 
The  Secret  of  the  Sea,  and  The  Lighthouse  has  no  rival 
among  American  poets,  except  Walt  Whitman.  He  wrote 
well  of  the  "awful,  pitiless  sea"  ;  but  he  loved  most  to 
sing  of  its  beauty  and  mystery  and  romance,  and  it  is 
that  which  he  has  interpreted  best.  Longfellow  was 
never  active  in  the  abolitionist  cause.  It  was  not  his 
part  to  go  in  sackcloth  and  ashes,  and  cry,  "  Woe  unto 
Nineveh  ! "  He  belonged,  rather,  to  the  sons  of  Korah, 
who  by  their  songs  make  more  beautiful  the  courts  of 
the  Lord.  His  Poems  on  Slavery,  therefore,  although 
sincere  enough,  seem  bookish  and  tame  in  comparison 
with  Whittier's  fiery  blasts.  The  sonnet  of  the  trumpet 
note,  the  organ  tone,  or  the  passionate  love-cry  Long 
fellow  could  not  command.  But  the  sonnet  of  quiet 
beauty,  of  gentle  sadness,  whose  music  is  like  the  breath 
ings  of 'a  lute,  he  wrote  well,  conforming  strictly  to  the 
exacting  Italian  form,  yet  without  apparent  sacrifice  of 
naturalness  or  ease.1  Most  of  Longfellow's  finest  short 
poems  were  written  in  youth  and  middle  age  ;  but  he 
continued  singing  under  the  evening  sky,  and  a  little 
of  his  best  work  was  done  then.  The  earlier  poems 
have  more  freshness  and  charm  ;  but  the  later  usually 
contain  fewer  positive  faults,  and  are  freighted  with  a 
richer  experience  of  life.2 

1  See  Nature,  My  Cathedral,  and  Divina  Commedia  (Sonnet  I.). 

2  See  Flower-de-Luce,  Hawthorne,  Killed  at  the  Ford,  Charles  Sum- 


HENRY   WADSWORTH    LONGFELLOW.        185 

Longfellow  was  fortunate  in  the  subject  of  his  first  long 
narrative  poem.  In  Evangeline  he  worked  upon  a  story 
of  singular  beauty  and  pathos,  and  had  a  heroine  whose 
pure  and  gentle  nature  he  was  peculiarly  fitted  to  portray. 
In  truth,  Evangeline  seems  less  an  individual  character 
than  an  ideal  abstraction,  the  embodiment  of  woman's 
deathless  love.  The  setting  is  vitally  related  to  the  central 
figure.  The  picture  of  the  harmless  life  of  the  Acadian 
farmers  heightens  our  sense  of  the  lovely  innocence  of  the 
heroine,  in  whom  that  life  attains  its  perfection.  Grand- 
Pre"  is  the  dove-cote  of  the  dove,  who  is  soon  to  receive  a 
crimson  wound  in  her  white  bosom  and  be  driven  forth 
to  wander  desolate  over  the  world.1  In  Part  Second  the 
descriptions  contrast  Evangeline's  solitude  with  the  re 
gained  happiness  of  her  friends,  and  help  the  reader  to 
realize  the  vastness  and  wildness  of  the  West  and  the 
consequent  heroism,  yet  hopelessness,  of  her  search. 
The  final  meeting  of  the  aged  lovers,  in  the  fever  hospi 
tal,  is  a  picture,  at  once  beautiful  and  pathetic,  of  spiritual 
love  immortal  amidst  the  body's  decay.  The  metre  of 
the  poem  has  provoked  much  discussion.  What  is  cer 
tain  is  that  English  hexameters  can  be  natural  and  musi 
cal,  but  that  in  a  long  poem  in  that  metre  it  seems  very 
difficult  to  avoid  many  awkward  or  prosaic  lines.  Thus 
Evangeline  contains  numerous  verses,  and  a  few  entire 


ner,  Belisarius,  Three  Friends  of  Mine  (Sonnet  II.,  on  Professor  Felton), 
Chaucer,  Keramos,  A  Ballad  of  the  French  Fleet,  The  Leap  of  Roushan 
Beg,  Bayard  Taylor,  From  My  Arm-Chair,  Mad  River,  The  Bells  of 
San  Bias. 

1  Longfellow  of  course  sacrifices  historical  accuracy  to  pathos.  In 
fact,  save  for  a  vague  reference  to  Louisburg,  Beau  Sejour,  and  Port 
Royal,  the  poem  contains  no  hint  of  the  cause  of  the  Acadians'  re 
moval. 


i86      THE   LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

passages,  which  flow  easily  and  melodiously ; l  others  in 
which  the  hexameter  movement  has  been  secured  by  an 
unnatural  word-order  ; 2  and  still  others  which,  if  printed 
as  prose,  would  be  read  as  such.3  Yet  the  metre  seems, 
on  the  whole,  to  be  well  fitted  to  the  poem,  by  reason  of 
its  rapidity,  dignity,  and  flexibility,  although  it  is  a  ques 
tion  whether  the  effect  would  not  be  finer,  on  the  whole, 
had  the  story  been  told  in  the  delicate,  light-footed  verse 
of  Lancelot  and  Elaine.^ 

The  Courtship  of  Miles  Standish,  being  in  lighter  vein, 
allowed  more  scope  to  the  poet's  pleasant  humor.  In 
how  kindly  a  fashion  does  this  play  around  the  doughty 

1  Over  the  pallid  sea  and  the  silvery  mist  of  the  meadows. 
Day  after  day  they  glided  adown  the  turbulent  river. 

Part  Second,  Section  II.,  has  many  beautiful  lines  and  goes  well  as  a 
whole. 

2  See  Part  First,  Section  L,  the  second  paragraph. 

3  "  It  was  a  band  of  exiles  :  a  raft,  as  it  were,  from  the  shipwrecked 
nation,  scattered  along  the  coast,  now  floating  together."     (Part  Second, 
Section  II.) 

4  The  success  of  the  hexameter  in  German  poetry,  notably  in  Goethe's 
Hermann  und  Dorothea,  no  doubt  emboldened  Longfellow  to  make  the 
courageous  experiment  of  writing  his  first  long  poem  in  this  then  unfa 
miliar  metre.     But  even  now  the  English  hexameter  is  inferior  to  the 
German.     One  reason  may  be  that  English  is  too  monosyllabic.     The 
paucity  of  good  spondees  in  English  is  surely  another  difficulty,  lead 
ing  either  to  an  excess   of  dactyls,  the  jounce   and   clatter   of  which 
finally  fatigue,  or  to  trochaic  lines,  which  have  not  sufficient  fulness  of 
sound  and  majesty  of  movement.     The  poverty  of  the  sensuous  effect  in 
this  trochaic  line  from  Evangeline  :  — 

List  to  a  tale  of  Love  in  Acadie,  home  of  the  happy, 

is  doubly  apparent  in  comparison  with  the  following  full-throated  line, 
rich  in  spondees,  from  Kingsley's  Andromeda :  — 

Whirled  in  the  white-linked  dance,  with  the  gold-crowned  Hours  and 
the  Graces. 

In  general,  Longfellow  paid  too  little  attention  to  quantity  in  his  hex 
ameters.  Miles  Standish  is  written  with  a  somewhat  freer  hand,  but 
there  are  fewer  musical  lines. 


HENRY   WADSWORTH    LONGFELLOW.        187 

little  Puritan  captain  and  his  refreshingly  unsanctified 
anger  ;  around  the  master  of  the  departing  "  Mayflower," 
glad  to  be  gone  from  a  land  where  there  was  "  plenty  of 
nothing  but  Gospel,"  and 

.  .  .  taking  each  by  the  hand,  as  if  he  were  grasping  a  tiller; 

even  around  the  hero,  rather  needlessly  distraught  by  the 
struggle  between  his  love  and  his  Puritanic  conscience. 
Yet  there  is  no  lack  of  admiration  for  the  great  qualities 
of  the  Pilgrims  :  — 
O  strong  hearts  and  true  !    not  one  went  back  in  the  May  Flower  ! 

In  fact,  the  whole  poem  is  a  sympathetic  and  truthful 
picture  of  the  early  days  of  Plymouth  Colony.  The  his 
torical  value  is  rather  increased  than  diminished  by  the 
prominence  given  to  the  love  story ;  we  are  api  to  over 
look  the  purely  human  side  of  the  life  of  the  Puritans, 
half  forgetting  that  they  loved,  married,  and  reared  chil 
dren  as  well  as  prayed,  fasted,  and  cast  out  devils.  The 
best  thing  in  the  poem  is  the  nobility  of  Priscilla's 
womanhood  ;  the  next  best,  the  feminine  tact  with  which 
she  manages  her  lover  for  his  own  good,  in  spite  of  the 
restraints  of  her  sex  and  sect  and  his  conscience-begotten 
blundering. 

Before  Longfellow's  day,  poems  on  the  American 
aborigines  had  been  mostly  failures.  In  them  the  Indian 
usually  appeared  either  as  a  repulsive  savage  or  as  a  sen 
timental  and  romantic  white  man  in  a  red  skin.  But  in 
Hiawatha,  by  happy  intuition,  Longfellow  seized  upon 
the  legends  and  myths  of  the  Indian  as  the  subject  for  his 
poem,  which  could  thus  be  at  once  poetic  and  real.1 

1  See  also  Longfellow's  early  handling  of  Indian  life  in  Burial  of  the 
Minnlsink,  and  in  Part  Second,  Section  IV.,  of  Evangeline. 


1 88      THE   LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

Hiawatha  is  fresh  and  beautiful 

With  the  odors  of  the  forest, 
With  the  dew  and  damp  of  meadows, 
With  the  curling  smoke  of  wigwams, 
With  the  rushing  of  great  rivers. 

The  mind  of  the  childhood  of  a  race  is  seen  in  the 
lovely  personifications  of  the  East  Wind  and  the  West 
Wind ;  in  the  fancy  of  the  Milky  Way  as  the  pathway  of 
ghosts ;  in  the  boyish  humor  and  love  of  the  marvellous 
which  pervade  the  stories  of  Hiawatha's  fishing  and  the 
pranks  of  Pau-Puk-Keewis  ;  in  the  naive  but  powerful 
imagination  which  conceived  the  ravenous  ghosts  that 
for  many  days  lodge  in  Hiawatha's  wigwam, 

Cowering,  crouching  with  the  shadows, 
and  at  last  are  discovered 

Sitting  upright  on  their  couches, 
Weeping  in  the  silent  midnight, 

because  the  living  do  not  really  desire  the  return  of  the 
dead.  But  even  the  poetry  of  the  Indians  Longfellow 
has  somewhat  idealized,  chiefly  by  the  rejection  of  capri 
cious  and  malignant  elements  in  the  character  of  his 
hero,  who  is  much  more  like  an  Indian  King  Arthur 
than  is  the  Hiawatha  of  the  original  legends.1  The 
verse  and  style  of  Hiawatha  (upon  the  model  of  the 
Finnish  epic,  Kalevala}?  although  monotonous  upon 
prolonged  reading,  are  peculiarly  fitted  to  the  substance 
and  spirit  of  the  poem.  The  short  phrases  and  simple 
sentences,  the  frequent  repetitions  and  parallelisms,  the 

1  See  The  Myth  of  Hiawatha,  by  H.  R.  Schoolcraft,  Philadelphia  and 
London,  1856. 

2  See  the  English  translation  by  J.  M.  Crawford. 


HENRY   WADSWORTH    LONGFELLOW.        189 

quick  trochaic  movement,  the  absence  of  rhyme  or 
stanza,  suggest  the  childlike  character  of  these  legends, 
and  the  swaying  boughs,  quivering  leaves,  and  leaping 
brooks  to  the  music  of  which  they  were  first  narrated. 

Tales  of  a  Wayside  Inn  show  the  hand  of  an  experi 
enced  literary  craftsman  and  wide  reading  in  many 
tongues,  but  also  a  decline  of  creative  power  with  the 
coming  on  of  age.  Longfellow's  dramas  are,  as  a  class, 
the  poorest  of  his  work.  Judas  Maccabaus  and  The 
Masque  of  Pandora  are  feeble.  Michael  Angela  is 
written  in  the  author's  best  mature  style  and  contains 
noble  passages,  especially  those  interpreting  the  spirit 
of  Michael  Angelo  and  Benvenuto  Cellini ;  the  work 
deserves  to  be  more  read,  but  it  is  a  loosely  connected 
series  of  dialogues  and  monologues  rather  than  a  dra 
matic  poem.  The  Divine  Tragedy,  consisting  of  scenes 
from  the  life  of  Christ,  in  a  bare  paraphrase  of  Scripture 
language,  is  painfully  inadequate.  The  New  England 
Tragedies,  although  they  report  accurately  the  facts  and 
spirit  of  the  Quaker  persecutions  and  the  Salem  Witch 
craft,  sadly  lack  imaginative  sweep  and  power.  Long 
fellow's  best  dramatic  poems  are  The  Spanish  Student and 
The  Golden  Legend,  in  which  his  humor,  lyric  gift,  and 
poetic  insight  into  Spanish  and  mediaeval  life  found  free  ex 
pression.  The  first  is  full  of  the  passion,  romance,  and 
gayety  of  youth  and  Spain,  and  contains  Longfellow's 
best  song,  Stars  of  the  Summer  Night.  The  second,  in 
addition  to  poetic  charm,  has  great  merit  as  an  interpre 
tation  of  the  many-sided  life  of  the  Middle  Ages.1  As 

1  "  Longfellow,  in  The  Golden  Legend,  has  entered  more  closely  into 
the  temper  of  the  Monk,  for  good  and  for  evil,  than  ever  yet  theological 
writer  or  historian."  —  Ruskin,  in  Modern  Painters,  Vol.  IV.,  Chap.  20, 


190      THE    LITERATURE    FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

a  translator  Longfellow's  career  was  long  and  brilliant. 
He  early  revealed  a  rare  gift  in  rendering  the  airy  grace 
of  the  French,  the  tender  richness  of  the  Spanish,  and 
the  mysticism,  romance,  and  deep-heartedness  of  the 
German  into  idiomatic  and  musical  English  verse.  His 
great  achievement  in  translation  is  the  version  of  Dante's 
Divina  Commedia,  which  occupied  him  at  intervals  dur 
ing  the  greater  part  of  his  adult  life ;  fidelity  was  secured 
at  considerable  loss  of  poeticalness  and  ease,  but  the 
work  is  nevertheless  a  noble  offering  to  the  memory  of 
the  great  Italian. 

Longfellow  had  much  in  common  with  Irving.  His 
character  had  the  same  simplicity  and  gentleness;  his 
culture  was  essentially  European,  although  it  consisted 
with  warm  patriotism  and  the  choice  of  American  sub 
jects  for  many  of  his  best  poems ;  his  gifts  were  affection, 
sentiment,  and  taste,  not  trenchant  intellect,  intense 
passion,  or  high  imagination.  In  humor  and  satire  he 
was  inferior  to  Irving,  but  the  place  of  these  was  more 
than  filled  by  poetic  vision  and  melodious  song.  Long 
fellow  is  not  a  great  poet.  There  are  heights  and  depths, 
splendors  and  glooms,  in  life  and  the  soul,  which  his 
muse  of  the  fireside  and  the  library  could  not  touch. 


§  32.  "  The  story  is  told,  and  perhaps  invented,  by  Hartmann  von  der 
Aue,  a  Minnesinger  of  the  twelfth  century.  The  original  [Der  Arme 
HeinrlcK\  may  be  found  in  Mailath's  Altdeutsche  Gedichte,  with  a  mod 
ern  German  version." —  Longfellow's  note.  See  also  Friedrich  Miinz- 
ner'sDie  Quellen  zu  Longfellows  Golden  Legend  (Dresden,  1897).  The 
dramas  gain  nothing  by  being  put  together  and  called  Christus.  Yet 
the  plan  of  such  a  work  was  early  conceived  and  long  cherished  :  "  This 
evening  it  has  come  into  my  mind  to  undertake  a  long  and  elaborate 
poem  by  the  holy  name  of  Christ;  trie  theme  of  which  would  be  the 
various  aspects  of  Christendom  in  the  Apostolic,  Middle,  and  Modern 
Ages."  —  Longfellow's  Journal,  November  8,  1841. 


TRANSCENDENTALISM.  191 

In  early  years  he  did  not  wholly  escape  the  prevalent 
taste  for  commonplace  sentiment.  His  Puritan  ancestry 
and  New  England  environment  made  him  over  anxious 
to  point  the  moral;  he  was  not  enough  content  to  let 
incident,  character,  and  scenery  produce  their  own  effect. 
But  nevertheless  his  artistic  instinct  was  large,  and  he 
came  into  many  bare  New  England  homes  as  an  apostle 
of  new  and  wondrous  beauty.  Much  of  his  work  will 
long  live,  because  it  touches  the  heart,  refines  the  spirit, 
and  has  for  the  senses  a  gentle  charm.  In  the  purity, 
sweetness,  and  harmony  of  his  nature  Longfellow  is  one 
of  the  world's  elect. 

Longfellow's  unspeculative  nature  held  him  aloof  from 
the  theological  and  philosophical  controversies  of  his 
day.  The  life  and  work  of  Emerson,  on  the  contrary, 
cannot  be  understood  without  first  glancing  at  the  history 
of  theology  and  philosophy  in  New  England  since  the 
middle  of  the  eighteenth  century.1  Down  to  the  time 
of  the  Great  Awakening,  in  1734-1744,  Calvinism  had 
reigned  almost  undisputed  in  New  England.  But  the 
reaction  against  the  emotional  excesses  of  that  tre 
mendous  revival  brought  to  the  surface  the  more  liberal 
tendencies  which  had  doubtless  been  germinating  in  the 
soil  for  some  time.  Contemporary  liberal  thought  in 
England  furthered  their  growth.  The  dispute  turned 
at  first  upon  the  question  how  far  man's  will  might  be 
an  agent  in  effecting  his  conversion.  The  school  of 
which  Jonathan  Edwards  was  the  head  asserted  the 

1  It  will  be  understood,  of  course,  that  we  here  have  nothing  to  do 
with  the  truth  or  error  of  the  opinions  referred  to,  but  only  with  their 
history  and  their  relation  to  literature.  Thus  the  words  "  liberal," 
"  orthodox,"  etc.,  are  used  wholly  in  their  historical  sense  and  without 
any  intention  to  imply  approval  or  disapproval. 


192      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

absolute  sovereignty  of  God  in  this  act,  as  in  all  others; l 
the  Arminian  school,  of  which  Charles  Chauncy  and 
Jonathan  Mayhew  were  the  earliest  leaders,  affirmed  that 
the  sinner,  by  diligently  cultivating  the  means  of  grace, 
and  so  fulfilling  the  conditions  for  receiving  it,  might 
cooperate  in  his  own  regeneration.  From  this  small 
beginning  the  breach  widened  more  and  more.  The 
doctrine  of  the  Trinity  was  soon  openly  attacked;  and, 
although  the  political  ferment  of  the  Revolution  drew 
men's  thoughts  largely  away  from  theological  questions, 
Unitarianism  quietly  spread  in  eastern  Massachusetts, 
until,  at  the  close  of  the  century,  there  was  scarcely  a 
Trinitarian  Congregational  clergyman  in  Boston.  No 
open  separation,  however,  had  yet  occurred.  With  the 
new  century  there  came  a  change.  The  appointment 
of  five  Unitarians  to  professorships  in  Harvard  College, 
in  1805-1807,  made  clear  the  position  of  that  venerable 
institution.  By  1815  circumstances  had  compelled  the 
liberal  party  reluctantly  to  accept  the  distinctive  title  of 
"  Unitarian."  Four  years  later,  aroused  by  Channing's 
famous  sermon  at  Baltimore  on  Unitarian  Christianity, 
the  denomination  assumed  a  more  confident  and  aggres 
sive  attitude,  and  entered  upon  a  period  of  controversy 
and  expansion. 

Emerson  inherited  whatever  of  mental  breadth  and 
spiritual  inspiration  the  earlier  Unitarianism  had  to 

i  Edwards's  greatest  work,  on  the  freedom  of  the  will,  was  written  to 
refute  the  Arminian  doctrine  of  the  will.  His  position  is  (i)  that  the 
will  is  "that  by  which  the  mind  chooses  anything";  (2)  that  "the  will 
is  always  determined  by  the  strongest  motive  "  ;  (3)  that  to  the  evil  man 
evil  appeals  more  strongly  than  good  does,  and  that  he  is  therefore 
"  morally,"  though  not  "  naturally,"  unable  to  choose  the  good  ;^  (4)  that, 
consequently,  man  is  wholly  dependent  upon  the  grace  of  God  for  a 
change  of  heart ;  (5)  that,  nevertheless,  since  the  sinner  does  what  he 


TRANSCENDENTALISM.  193 

give.  But  its  direct  service  to  him  in  this  kind  was 
small.  "The  Unitarians  of  New  England,"  says  O.  B. 
Frothingham,  who  will  not  be  accused  of  understating 
their  merits,  "belonged  .  .  .  to  the  class  which  looked 
without  for  knowledge,  rather  than  within  for  inspira 
tion.  .  .  .  The  Unitarian  was  disquieted  by  mysticism, 
enthusiasm,  and  rapture.  .  .  .  Even  Doctor  Channing 
clung  to  the  philosophical  traditions  that  were  his  in 
heritance  from  England."1  But  indirectly,  by  what  it 
allowed  to  enter  from  without,  Unitarianism  greatly 
assisted  in  the  development  of  Emerson's  genius.  It 
will  be  no  more  than  fair  to  hear  what  Mr.  Frothingham 
has  to  say  on  this  side  also:  "The  Unitarians  .  .  . 
acknowledged  themselves  to  be  friends  of  free  thought 
in  religion.  This  was  their  distinction.  They  dis 
avowed  sympathy  with  dogmatism.  .  .  .  They  hon 
estly  but  incautiously  professed  a  principle  broader 
than  they  were  able  to  stand  by,  and  avowed  the  abso 
lute  freedom  of  the  human  mind  as  their  characteristic 
faith.  .  .  .  The  literature  on  their  tables  represented 
a  wide  mental  activity.  Their  libraries  contained 
authors  never  found  before  on  ministerial  shelves."2 
Hence  it  happened  that  the  sect  which  had  within  its 
own  ranks  less  of  severe  metaphysical  ability  than  some 
of  the  orthodox  denominations,  did  more  than  any  other 
religious  body  to  encourage  the  introduction  into 
America  of  the  new  German  philosophy.  New  England 
Transcendentalism  had  its  roots  in  the  philosophy  of 
Kant.  In  opposition  to  the  philosophy  of  Locke,  the 

chooses,  and  chooses  evil  because  of  his  own  wickedness,  not  because 
of  outward  compulsion,  he  is  justly  held  responsible  by  God. 

1  Transcendentalism  in  New  England,  p.  no.  2  Id  id.,  p.  114. 

O 


194      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

prevailing  system  of  thought  in  England  and  America,  a 
system  which,  by  its  assumption  that  all  knowledge  is 
derived  from  experience  through  the  senses,  tended 
logically  to  materialism  and  scepticism,  Kant  sought  to 
show  that  the  ideas  of  the  Reason  —  the  Soul,  the  Uni 
verse  as  One,  the  Absolute  Being,  or  God  —  are  not 
derived  from  experience,  but  are  implanted  in  the  very 
constitution  of  the  mind,  which  thus  has  intuitive  knowl 
edge  of  high  truths  that  can  never  be  reached  by  the 
merely  logical  understanding  or  the  physical  senses.  The 
ideas  of  Kant  were  further  developed  by  Fichte,  Schel- 
ling,  Hegel,  and  other  German  philosophers;  clothed 
with  poetic  beauty  and  mystical  fervor  by  Goethe  and 
Richter;  expounded  with  the  elegant  lucidity  of  the 
agile  French  mind  by  Cousin,  Constant,  and  others; 
transplanted  into  England  in  the  writings  of  Coleridge 
and  Carlyle;  and,  chiefly  in  their  French  or  English 
dress,  brought  to  America  daring  Emerson's  youth  and 
early  manhood.1  The  new  idealism  contributed  its  share 

1  "  Few  [American  scholars]  read  German,  but  most  read  French. 
As  early  as  1804,  Degerando  lectured  on  Kant's  philosophy,  in  Paris ; 
and  as  early  as  1813,  Madame  de  Stae'l  gave  an  account  of  it.  ...  The 
works  of  Coleridge  made  familiar  the  leading  ideas  of  Schelling.  The 
foreign  reviews  reported  the  results  and  processes  of  French  and  Ger 
man  speculation.  In  1827,  Thomas  Carlyle  wrote,  in  the  Edinburgh 
Review,  his  great  articles  on  Richter  and  the  State  of  German  Literature ; 
in  1828  appeared  his  essay  on  Goethe.  Mr.  Emerson  presented  these 
and  other  papers,  as  Carlyle's  Miscellanies,  to  the  American  public. 
\Sartor  Resartus  was  reprinted  in  America  in  1836.]  In  1830,  George 
Ripley  began  the  publication  of  the  Specimens  of  Standard  Foreign  Lit 
erature.  .  .  .  These  volumes  .  .  .  brought  many  readers  into  a  close 
acquaintance  with  the  teaching  and  the  spirit  of  writers  of  the  new 
school." —  Transcendentalism  in  New  England,  pp.  115-117.  The  in 
fluence  of  Coleridge  upon  the  philosophy  of  James  Marsh,  president 
and  professor  at  the  University  of  Vermont,  deserves  passing  mention  ; 
in  1829  he  published  a  Preliminary  Essay  to  Coleridge's  Aids  to 
Reflection. 


RALPH   WALDO   EMERSON.  195 

to  the  so-called  "Romantic  movement,"  which,  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century  and  the  early  part 
of  the  nineteenth,  did  so  much  to  break  through  the 
crust  of  tradition  and  turn  fresh  streams  of  thought  and 
feeling  into  nearly  every  department  of  life  in  the  prin 
cipal  countries  of  Europe.  In  New  England  likewise, 
within  a  narrow  circle,  the  new  ideas  exerted  a  power 
ful  influence  for  a  time,  as  will  appear  more  fully  in  the 
course  of  our  study  of  the  "Sage  of  Concord." 

RALPH  WALDO  EMERSON  1  was  descended  from  a  re 
markably  long  line  of  clergymen  and  scholars,  beginning 
with  Peter  Bulkeley,  Fellow  of  St.  John's  College, 
Cambridge,  who  in  1634  fled  from  the  persecution  of 
Laud  and  settled  at  Concord.  Emerson's  grandfather, 
William  Emerson,  was  builder  of  the  "Old  Manse," 
pastor  at  Concord  in  1775,  an  ardent  patriot,  an  elo- 

1  LIFE.  Born  in  Boston,  May  25,  1803.  Attended  Latin  School, 
1813-1817  ;  Harvard  College,  1817-1821 ;  taught  school  in  or  near  Boston, 
1821-1826;  attended  Harvard  Divinity  School,  1825-1828;  licensed  to 
preach,  1826.  Spent  winter  of  1826-1827  in  the  South.  Became  pastor 
of  Old  North  Church,  Boston,  1829.  Married  Ellen  Tucker,  1829;  she 
died,  1832.  Resigned  his  pastorate,  1832.  In  Italy,  France,  England, 
1832-1833.  Lecturing,  1832-1872:  chiefly  in  New  England,  1832-1847; 
in  Scotland  and  England,  1847-1848 ;  in  New  England,  Middle  States, 
and  West,  1851-1872.  Settled  in  Concord,  1834.  Married  Lidian  Jack 
son,  1835 ;  two  sons  and  two  daughters  were  born  to  him.  Visited  Eng 
land  and  France,  1847-1848.  Given  degree  of  LL.D.  by  Harvard,  and 
elected  college  overseer,  1866.  Visited  California,  1871.  House  burned, 
1872.  In  England,  France,  Italy,  Egypt,  1872-1873.  Died  at  Concord, 
April  27,  1882. 

WORKS.  Nature,  1836.  Essays  :  First  Series,  1841 ;  Second  Series, 
1844.  Contributions  to  The  Dial,  1840-1844.  Poems,  1847.  Miscella 
nies  (Nature,  Addresses,  Lectures),  1849.  Representative  Men,  1850. 
English  Traits,  1856.  Conduct  of  Life,  1860.  May-Day  and  Other 
Pieces  (poems),  1867.  Society  and  Solitude,  1870.  Letters  and  Social 
Aims,  1876.  Correspondence  of  Carlyle  and  Emerson,  1883.  Natural 
History  of  the, Intellect,  1893  (lectures  at  Harvard  and  elsewhere,  reprints 
from  The  Dial,  etc.). 


196      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

quent  preacher,  and  a  man  of  marked  literary  tastes. 
His  father,  of  the  same  name,  pastor  of  the  First  Church, 
Boston,  also  had  high  reputation  as  a  preacher  and  stu 
dent.  He  died  when  Waldo  was  eight  years  old,  so  that 
the  boy's  home  training  was  received  chiefly  from  his 
mother,  a  woman  of  peculiar  serenity  of  temper;  his 
aunt,  Mary  Moody  Emerson,  of  remarkable  intellect  and 
character,  also  exerted  a  strong  influence  over  him  for 
many  years.  Emerson's  distinctive  genius,  like  Mil 
ton's,  came  into  full  bloom  rather  late.  But  he  seems 
early  to  have  had  a  certain  general  maturity,  and  his 
spiritual  nature  was,  from  the  first,  of  singular  elevation 
and  charm.1  At  college  he  was  only  a  fair  scholar, 
having  no  faculty  for  mathematics  and  pursuing  a  desul 
tory  course  of  private  reading  with  more  industry  than 
the  prescribed  studies;  but  he  took  a  prize  for  declama 
tion,  and  two  prizes  for  dissertations,  and  graduated 
somewhat  above  the  middle  of  his  class.2  As  a  teacher, 
Emerson  was  much  respected  and  loved;  but  he  found 
the  work  very  irksome,  and  gladly  relinquished  it,  after 
four  profitable  years,  to  begin  his  studies  in  divinity. 

1  "  I  don't  think  he  ever  engaged  in  boy's  play;  .  .  .  simply  because, 
from  his  earliest  years,  he  dwelt  in  a  higher  sphere."     "  A  spiritual-look 
ing  boy  in  blue  nankeen,  .  .  .  whose  image,  more  than  any  other's,  is 
still  deeply  stamped  upon  my  mind  as  I  then  saw  him  and  loved  him, 
I  knew  not  why,  and  thought  him  so  angelic  and  remarkable."  —  Remi 
niscences  by  two  schoolmates,  in  J.   E.  Cabot's  Memoir  of  Emerson, 
Vol.  I.,  pp.  5,  6. 

2  In  his  first  year  he  served  as  "  President's  freshman,"  or  messenger, 
and  waited  on  table  at  the  college  commons.     A  classmate  says  :  "  By 
degrees  .  .  .  the  more  studious  members  of  his  class  began  to  seek  him 
out.     They  found  him  to  be  unusually  thoughtful  and  well-read.  .  .  . 
He  had  studied  the   early  English  dramatists   and  poets,  pored  over 
Montaigne,  and  knew  Shakespeare  almost  by  heart.     In  his  sophomore 
year  he  became  the  leading  spirit  in  a  little  book-club."  —Cabot,  Vol.  I., 
PP-  59-  63- 


RALPH   WALDO   EMERSON.  197 

An  affection  of  the  eyes  and  symptoms  of  consumption, 
the  latter  compelling  him  to  spend  one  winter  in  Florida, 
interfered  greatly  with  his  theological  course.  But 
during  these  years  of  leisurely  reading  and  meditation 
his  nature,  by  the  privilege  of  genius,  was  doubtless 
absorbing  the  food  it  most  needed  and  slowly  growing 
toward  maturity.1 

Soon  after  leaving  the  divinity  school  he  married,  and 
entered  upon  what  he  supposed  would  be  his  life-work 
as  a  Unitarian  clergyman.  Three  years  brought  serious 
changes.  Mrs.  Emerson's  death  took  the  sunshine  out 
of  his  home,  and  a  few  months  later  he  felt  obliged  to 
resign  his  pastorate.  This  step,  occasioned  by  difference 
of  opinion  about  the  Lord's  Supper,  was  the  first  clear 
intimation  that  Emerson  was  finding  the  Unitarian  faith 
too  narrow  for  his  expanding  thought.  For  several 
years  he  continued  to  preach  as  occasion  offered;  but 
his  religious  ideas  differed  more  and  more  from  those 
of  the  Unitarians  as  a  body,  and  his  address  before  the 
Harvard  Divinity  School,  in  1838,  raised  a  storm  of 
alarm,  being  condemned  by  prominent  liberal  clergy 
men  as  anti-Christian,  and  even  atheistical.  Mean 
while  Emerson  had  found  his  vocation.  As  a  lecturer 
he  had  peculiar  charm,  —  the  triple  charm  of  a  fascinat 
ing  voice,  brilliant  thought,  and  a  personality  singularly 


1  Doctor  F.  H.  Hedge,  who  first  met  Emerson  in  1828,  says :  "There 
was  no  presage  then,  that  I  remember,  of  his  future  greatness.  .  .  .  He 
never  jested ;  a  certain  reserve  in  his  manner  restrained  the  jesting  pro 
pensity  and  any  license  of  speech  in  others.  He  was  slow  in  his  move 
ments,  as  in  his  speech.  .  .  .  No  one,  I  think,  ever  saw  him  run.  In 
ethics  he  held  very  positive  opinions.  Here  his  native  independence  of 
thought  was  manifest.  '  Owe  no  conformity  to  custom,'  he  said, 
'against  your  private  judgment.'"  —  Cabot,  Vol.  I.,  p.  138. 


198      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

winning  and  spiritually  stimulating.  It  was  the  day  of 
the  "lyceum,"  and  many  talented  lecturers  regularly 
went  about  the  country.  But  Emerson  was,  on  the 
whole,  the  prince  of  them  all.  Year  after  year,  while 
other  lecturers,  seemingly  more  eloquent,  waxed  only 
to  wane,  this  quiet  reader  of  apparently  disconnected 
thoughts  upon  intangible  "  transcendental "  subjects  held 
the  platform  and  steadily  exercised  his  gentle  fascination 
over  hearers  of  widely  different  temperaments  and  be 
liefs.1  Most  of  his  lectures  were  afterward  reprinted 
as  books,"  which  had  some  sale;  but  for  many  years  he 
depended  chiefly  upon  lecturing  to  eke  out  his  limited 
income.8  After  his  first  trip  to  Europe,  his  second  mar 
riage,  and  his  settlement  in  Concord,  his  life  flowed  on 
for  many  years  with  a  tranquillity  befitting  the  serene 
philosopher.  The  deaths  of  his  brothers  Edward  and 
Charles,  in  1834  and  1836,  deprived  him  of  companions 
whose  places  were  never  filled  again,  although  he  was 

1  "  It  was  with  a  feeling  of  predetermined  dislike  that   I  had  the 
curiosity  to  look  at  Emerson  at  Lord  Northampton's,  a  fortnight  ago ; 
when,  in  an  instant,  all  my  dislike  vanished.     He  has  one  of  the  most 
interesting  countenances  I  ever  beheld,  —  a  combination  of  intelligence 
and  sweetness  thai  quite  disarmed  me."  —  Diary,  etc.,  of  H.  C.  Robinson, 
April  22,  1848.     "  I  can  do  no  better  than  tell  what  Harriet  Martineau 
says  about  him  :  '  There  is  a  vague  nobleness  and  thorough  sweetness 
about  him  which  move  people  to  their  very  depths,  without  their  being 
able  to  explain  why.  .  .  .     He  conquers  minds,  as  well  as  hearts,  wher 
ever  he  goes ;    and,  without  convincing  anybody's  reason  of  any  one 
thing,  exalts  their  reason,  and  makes  their  minds  worth  more  than  they 
ever  were  before.'  "  —  Ibid.,  June  9,  1848. 

2  "  A  large  number  of  his  lectures,"  says  Mr.  Cabot,  "  remain  un 
published." 

3  "  The  Tucker  estate  [that  of  the  family  of  his  first  wife]  is  so  far 
settled,"  he  writes  in  1834,  "  that  I  am  made  sure  of  an  income  of  about 
$1200."  —  Cabot,  Vol.  I.,  p.  218.     "  Pie  writes  ...  in  1847  that  the  most 
he  ever  received  was  $570  for  ten  lectures;  in  Boston,  $50;  in  country 
lyceums,  $10  and  travelling  expenses."  —  Ibid.,  Vol.  II.,  p.  460. 


RALPH    WALDO    EMERSON.  199 

surrounded  by  dear  friends  all  his  life,  and  between  him 
and  Carlyle  there  was  deep  affection.  In  1842  the  death 
of  his  eldest  child,  a  remarkable  boy  of  five  years,  cut 
into  his  heart  with  pain  against  which  no  philosopher 
is  proof  or  ought  to  be.  But  in  the  main  his  life  was 
a  singularly  happy  one.  As  the  years  went  on,  his  fame 
steadily  increased.  As  early  as  1847,  when  he  revisited 
England,  he  was  recognized  there  as  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  men  of  the  century;  and  at  home  he  was 
reverenced  as  a  seer  and  saint,  who  dwelt  habitually  in 
the  presence  of  the  highest  spiritual  realities.1 

Emerson's  mind  began  to  fail  after  the  year  1870. 
He  had  always  been  deliberate  in  conversation,  "pick 
ing  his  way  through  his  vocabulary  to  get  at  the  best 
expression  of  his  thoughts,  as  a  well-dressed  woman 
crosses  the  muddy  pavement."2  In  old  age  his 
memory  for  words  became  capricious,  and  of£°n  he 
was  forced  to  describe  objects  instead  of  naming  li.em 
—  as  when  he  humorously  said  of  an  umbrella,  "I  can't 
tell  its  name,  but  I  can  tell  its  history :  strangers  take 
it  away."3  The  shock  and  exposure  at  the  burning  of 
his  house  hastened  his  decline,  and  he  once  more  went 
abroad,  for  health  and  rest.  On  his  return  the  love  and 
pride  of  his  fellow-townsmen  appeared  in  the  reception 
they  gave  him;  he  "was  escorted,  with  music,  between 
two  rows  of  smiling  school-children,  to  his  house,  where 
a  triumphal  arch  of  leaves  and  flowers  had  been 

1  Father  Taylor,  the  Methodist  preacher  to  sailors,  who  said  of  Emer 
son  that  "  he  knows  no  more  of  the  religion  of  the  New  Testament  than 
Balaam's  ass  did  of  the  principles  of  the  Hebrew  grammar  "  (Cabot, 
Vol.  I.,  p.  328),  yet  declared  that  Emerson  was  more  like  Christ  than 
any  man  he  had  known  (O.  W.  Holmes's  life  of  Emerson,  p.  412). 

2  Holmes,  p.  364.  3  Cabot,  Vol.  II.,  p.  652. 


200      THE   LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

erected."1  By  generous  friends  the  house  had  been 
restored,  with  some  improvements,  to  its  former  condi 
tion.  His  renewed  vigor  was  fleeting.  His  powers 
failed  more  and  more,  until,  toward  the  end,  he  took 
childish  delight  in  looking  at  pictures  in  books  and 
showing  them  to  guests.  At  Longfellow's  funeral  he 
said  to  a  friend,  "That  gentleman  was  a  sweet,  beauti 
ful  soul,  but  I  have  entirely  forgotten  his  name."'2  A 
few  weeks  later  this  pathetic,  but  not  painful,  second- 
childhood  of  a  high  intellect  was  ended  by  death,  after 
a  brief  illness  free  from  suffering  until  near  the  very 
last.  He  was  able  to  take  farewell  of  his  family  and 
friends;  and,  his  eyes  falling  upon  a  portrait  of  Carlyle, 
he  murmured,  "That  is  that  man,  my  man."  Not  long 
after  he  fell  asleep. 

Emerson's  philosophy  is  the  key  to  his  prose  writ- 
ings^large  portions  of  which  are  merely  amplifications 
or.<2£pplications  of  a  few  fundamental  ideas.  He  was  an 
idealist.  "Mind,"  he  says,  "is  the  only  reality."  3  "I 
believe  in  the  existence  of  the  material  world  as  the 
expression  of  the  spiritual,  or  the  real."4  Nature 
expresses  not  only  the  Infinite  Mind,  but  the  finite 
mind  as  well,  since  all  mind  is  in  essence  the  same. 
"The  whole  of  nature  is  a  metaphor  of  the  human 
mind.  The  laws  of  moral  nature  answer  to  those  of 
matter  as  face  to  face  in  a  glass."5  He  even  speaks  of 

i  Cabot,  Vol.  II.,  p.  665.  2  Holmes,  p.  346. 

3  The  Transcendental! st.     See  also  Nature,  Chap.  VI. 

4  Natural  History  of  Intellect. 

5  Nature,  Chap.  IV.     Cf.  Wordsworth :  — 

and  how  exquisitely,  too  — 
Theme  this  but  little  heard  of  among  men  — 
The  external  World  is  fitted  to  the  Mind. 

—  Preface  to  The  Excursion. 


RALPH   WALDO   EMERSON.  201 

the  universe  as  the  "externization  of  the  soul."1  But 
this  is  because  he  does  not  sharply  sever  God  from 
Man.  "The  currents  of  the  Universal  Being  circulate 
through  me;  I  am  part  or  particle  of  God."2  "The 
soul  in  man  ...  is  not  the  intellect  or  the  will,  but 
.  .  .  the  background  of  our  being,  in  which  they  lie, 
—  an  immensity  not  possessed  and  that  cannot  be  pos 
sessed."3  This  view  was  the  easier  because  Emerson 
thought  of  God  as  neither  personal  nor  impersonal,  but 
as  the  transcendent,  indefinable  Source  of  all  modes  of 
being.4 

All  this  but  repeats  the  ideas  of  Carlyle,  Coleridge, 
the  German  idealists,  Plato,  and  the  mystic  thinkers  of 
the  Orient.  Emerson  was  not  an  original  philosopher. 
In  the  strict  sense  he  was  not  a  philosopher  at  all,  for 
he  relied  upon  intuition  instead  of  reason,  and  was 
much  more  intent  upon  the  moral  and  spiritual  than 
upon  the  intellectual.  Herein  lay  his  unique  value  for 
his  land  and  age.  Taking  almost  for  granted  the  lofty 
conceptions  of  idealism,  this  high  spiritual  nature  put ' 
them  to  use  in  everyday  life.  He  followed  his  own  ! 
precept,  "Hitch  your  wagon  to  a  star."  In  the  teeth 
of  conventionalism,  materialism,  and  scepticism  he 
preached  with  singular  incisiveness  and  charm  the  new- 
old  doctrine  of  the  Soul  and  its  immediate  relation  to 
the  Infinite  Being.  This  first  of  truths  dominates  all 
his  thinking.  In  the  light  of  it  nature  takes  on  a 
higher  beauty  and  a  deeper  significance.  History  and 
biography  become  fresh  and  vital  with  the  indwelling 

1  The  Poet,  in  Essays,  Second  Series. 

2  Nature,  Chap.  I.  3  The  Over-Soul,  in  Essays,  First  Series. 
*  See  Nature,  Chap.  VII. ;  Fate,  in  The  Conduct  of  Life;  etc. 


202      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

life  of  God.  Art  ceases  to  be  a  matter  of  superficial 
form,  but  is  seen  as  the  artist's  expression  of  the  Eter 
nal  Beauty.  For  the  individual  life  the  doctrine  is  rich 
in  guidance  and  inspiration.  "Trust  thyself;"  God  is 
in  thee  also.  Pretence  is  vain;  " character  teaches  over 
our  head."  Fret  not;  "the  things  that  are  really  for 
thee  gravitate  to  thee."  Heaven  and  hell  are  within 
thee;  "he  who  does  a  good  deed  is  instantly  ennobled, 
he  who  does  a  mean  deed  is  by  the  action  itself  con 
tracted."  The  highest  greatness  is  internal  and  sim 
ple;  "give  me  health  and  a  day,  and  I  will  make  the 
pomp  of  emperors  ridiculous."  Upon  social  problems 
Emerson  turned  the  searchlight  of  the  same  spiritual 
philosophy.  In  the  Church  the  great  defect,  he  thought, 
was  that  "men  have  come  to  speak  of  the  revelation  as 
somewhat  long  ago  given  and  done,  as  if  God  were 
dead."  He  sympathized  with  the  many  reform  move 
ments  of  his  day,  but  criticised  them  for  depending  too 
much  upon  outward  means,  too  little  upon  love;1  and 
of  Fourier's  elaborate  socialistic  scheme  he  quietly  re 
marked  that  its  originator  "had  skipped  no  fact  but 
one,  namely  Life."  The  materialism  of  the  American 
people,  and  their  subservience  to  Europe  in  things  of 
the  higher  life,  he  smote  like  an  angel  of  light.  "Per 
haps  the  time  is  already  come  .  .  .  when  the  sluggard 
intellect  of  this  continent  will  look  from  under  its  iron 
lids,  and  fill  the  postponed  expectation  of  the  world 
with  something  better  than  the  exertions  of  mechanical 
skill."2  "We  have  listened  too  long  to  the  courtly 
muses  of  Europe.  .  .  .  We  will  walk  on  our  own  feet; 

1  See  Man  the  Reformer  ;  Lecture  on  the  Times  ;  and  New  England 
Reformers,  in  Essays,  Second  Series.  2  The  American  Scholar. 


RALPH   WALDO   EMERSON.  203 

we  will  work  with  our  own  hands;  we  will  speak  our 
own  minds."  l 

But  other  and  more  personal  qualities  appear  in 
Emerson's  pages,  and  win  him  readers  even  among 
those  who  perhaps  do  not  sympathize  with  philosophic 
idealism  or  who  find  its  iteration  wearisome.  Here 
and  there  poetic  descriptions  of  nature  gleam  out  with 
a  fresh,  serene  beauty  that  never  palls.  A  courageous 
candor  in  self-analysis  sometimes  smites  the  reader  into 
wholesome  shame.  Again  and  again  there  is  revealed 
an  insight,  as  subtle  as  true,  into  the  facts  of  man's 
spiritual  being.  A  certain  personal  fastidiousness  gives 
warning  of  a  nature  of  extreme  delicacy,  and  prepares 
us  for  those  admirable  words  on  behavior  and  manners 
which,  but  for  the  underlying  spirituality,  might  have 
been  uttered  by  Lord  Chesterfield.2  Curiously  united 
with  the  qualities  of  seer  and  mystic,  appear  the 
shrewdness,  humor,  and  keen  observation  of  the  Yankee. 
This  ballast  of  hard  common  sense  the  New  England  sage 
always  took  with  him  even  in  his  most  aerial  voyagings, 
while  in  the  admirable  historical  and  political  addresses, 
and  in  English  Traits,  it  forms  the  principal  cargo.3 

Inspiring  and  keen  as  Emerson's  mind  was,  it  had 
certain  limitations  and  defects  which  cannot  be  passed 
by  in  any  careful  estimate  of  his  work.  His  instinct 
for  the  incisive  and  the  startling  often  lured  him  into 
extravagance  of  statement.  He  was  not  a  learned  man, 
and  even  his  reading  was  desultory;  consequently  his 

1  The  American  Scholar, 

2  In  this  connection  Emerson's  lifelong  liking  for  the  courtly  Beau 
mont  and  Fletcher  is  significant. 

3  See  particularly  the  Historical  Discourse  at  Concord  and  Historic 
Notes  of  Life  and  Letters  in  New  England. 


204      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

words  on  books,  history,  and  systems  of  thought,  al 
though  suggestive  and  stimulating,  lack  the  authority  of 
the  scholar.1  Like  Carlyle,  he  was  constitutionally 
unable  to  do  justice  to  the  scientific  habit  of  mind  and 
its  results.  His  philosophic  idealism,  together  with 
extreme  personal  spirituality,  led  him  to  overrate  Swe- 
denborg  and  to  underrate  Shakspere  and  the  sensu 
ous  side  of  art  in  general.  The  same  elements,  modified 
by  his  humor  and  common  sense,  determined  his  atti 
tude  toward  Transcendentalism.  It  is  difficult  nowa 
days,  when  we  have  passed  into  an  atmosphere  so 
different,  to  do  this  movement  entire  justice.  Un 
doubtedly  Transcendentalism  did  good  in  its  own  day, 
especially  as  an  offset  to  America's  prevailing  genius  of 
the  materialistic  and  practical.  It  broke  with  tradition, 
and  opened  the  way  for  new  ideas.  It  held  up  before 
the  eyes  of  Young  America  high  ideals  of  character, 
religion,  philanthropy,  social  life,  and  national  des 
tiny.  Indirectly  it  helped  to  lend  soul  to  several 
practical  reforms.  But  on  its  speculative  side  Trans 
cendentalism  was  shallow  and  amateurish,  and  in  prac 
tice  it  tended  to  Utopianism.  A  few  ideas  hastily 
caught  up  at  second  hand  from  ancient  and  modern 
philosophy  were  the  entire  stock  in  trade  of  most  of  its 
disciples.  Parties  of  ladies  and  gentlemen  met  in 
parlors  to  inflate  their  souls  with  the  rarefied  moonshine 
of  which  Mr.  Alcott  had  such  plenteous  store.2  It  was 

1  "  He  would  have  been  partly  amused,  partly  vexed,  to  hear  himself 
described  as  a  profound  student  ...  of  anything  to  be  learned  from 
books."     "  He  lived  among  his  books  and  was  never  comfortable  away 
from  them,  yet  they  did  not  much  enter  into  his  life."  —  Cabot,  Vol.  I., 
pp.  288,  292. 

2  In  Historic  Notes  of  Life  and  Letters  in  New  England,  Emerson 
tells,  with  evident  relish,  that  on  one  such  occasion,  "at  a  knotty  point 


RALPH   WALDO   EMERSON.  205 

a  day  for  the  blowing  of  soap-bubbles,  beautifully  iri 
descent,  with  which  as  cannon-balls  the  grim  strong 
holds  of  error  and  wrong  were  to  be  battered  down, 
preliminary  to  creating  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth. 
Emerson's  relations  to  Transcendentalism  were  peculiar. 
Although  he  was  the  soul  and  centre  of  the  whole  move 
ment,  he  always  maintained  a  somewhat  critical  attitude 
toward  it,  especially  toward  the  fantastic,  if  harmless, 
eccentricities  of  theory  and  practice  which  capered 
around  its  circumference.  His  hopes  might  fly  to  Uto 
pia,  but  his  feet  remained  in  Concord  where  were  his 
house  and  his  taxes.  He  never  joined  the  Brook  Farm 
community,  nor  showed  much  faith  in  its  permanent 
success.  Even  in  the  case  of  the  more  practicable, 
reforms  connected  with  intemperance,  the  wrongs  of 
women,  and  slavery,  he  maintained  a  philosophic  calm 
and  breadth  of  view,  although  speaking  his  mind  on  fit 
occasion  with  manly  courage.  And  yet  one  feels  that 
on  the  whole  Emerson  was  too  indulgent  toward  Trans 
cendentalism  and  for  a  time  too  sanguine  over  its  work 
in  the  world.  Certainly  he  greatly  overestimated  Alcott. 
And  he  even  made  a  mild  attempt  to  bring  in  the 
Golden  Age  by  having  his  servants  eat  at  the  same  table 
with  himself  and  his  family —  a  plan  which  was  promptly 
frustrated  by  the  superior  good  sense  of  the  domestics.1 
More  serious  limitations  for  the  general  reader  are  Emer 
son's  too  easy  optimism  and  his  defective  sense  of  evil 
and  sin.  Both  limitations  sprang  from  the  excess  of 
idealism  in  his  thinking  and  his  nature.  He  had  a 

in  the  discourse,  a  sympathizing  Englishman  with  a  squeaking  voice 
interrupted  with  the  question,  '  Mr.  Alcott,  a  lady  near  me  desires  to 
inquire  whether  omnipotence  abnegates  attribute  ?  '  " 
i  See  Cabot,  Vol.  II.,  pp.  60-64. 


2o6      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

seraph's  vision  for  "the  ever-blessed  ONE."  But  the 
many,  the  concrete,  the  actual,  often  very  far  from 
blessed,  were  not  sufficiently  real  and  present  to  him. 
The  high  serenity  of  his  mood,  the  almost  angelic 
purity  of  his  nature,  have  of  course  their  peculiar  help 
fulness  and  inspiration  for  us  of  grosser  clay.  But  on 
the  whole  Emerson  would  draw  us  skyward  more  pow 
erfully  if  he  himself  did  not  ascend  quite  so  easily.  If 
he  had  looked  more"  steadily  at  life  in  its  totality,  we 
should  feel  more  confidence  in  his  idealistic  interpreta 
tion  of  it.  If  he  had  been  more  fully  a  man  of  like 
passions  with  ourselves,  and  yet  had  risen  splendidly 
victorious  over  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil,  he 
could  then  have  helped  us,  not  as  angels  help  poor 
mortals,  but  as  brother  helpeth  brother. 

Emerson's  manner  and  style  have  great  merit  for  the 
work  to  which  he  put  them.  He  did  not  aim  at  a  logi 
cal  and  continuous  development  of  thought.  He  desired 
rather  to  flash  into  the  mind  a  few  great  ideas  and  then 
make  brief,  suggestive  applications  of  them  to  character 
and  life.  For  this  purpose,  short,  pithy  sentences  were 
better  adapted  than  sentences  more  complete  in  thought 
and  of  smoother  flow;  while  logical  coherence  of  sen 
tence  to  sentence,  and  of  paragraph  to  paragraph,  was 
not  essential,  and  perhaps  not  desirable,  in  writings  in 
tended  chiefly  to  arouse  and  stimulate.  The  fact  that 
these  essays  on  abstract  subjects  were  first  designed  as 
popular  lectures,  in  which  each  paragraph  and  almost 
every  sentence  must  contain  something  to  hold  the  at 
tention,  also  tended  to  the  development  of  the  parts  at 
the  expense  of  structure  in  the  whole.  It  is  probable, 
however,  that  Emerson's  type  of  mind  would  in  any 


RALPH   WALDO   EMERSON.  207 

event  have  produced  results  much  the  same.  His  mind 
was  intuitive,  not  logical;  and  the  thoughts  which  came 
to  him  were  not  links  in  a  chain,  but  separate  rays  from 
a  central  sun.1  It  is  easy,  however,  to  exaggerate  the 
degree  of  incoherence  in  Emerson's  writings.  His  first 
book,  Nature,  is  orderly  enough  in  the  parts  and  in  the 
whole,  being  the  most  systematic  and  clearest  exposition 
of  his  fundamental  thought.  The  addresses,  also,  have 
sufficient  method  and  a  more  fluent  style.  And  even 
the  essays,  as  some  one  has  said,  "do  not  read  back 
ward."  But  Emerson's  gift  was  in  the  word,  the  phrase, 
and  the  single  sentence,  not  in  the  larger  wholes.  Mat 
thew  Arnold  was  certainly  right  in  saying  that  Emerson 
was  "not  a  great  writer,"  that  "his  style  has  not  the 
requisite  wholeness  of  good  tissue."2  But  he  could  at 
least  coin  phrases  that  startle  and  pierce  and  carry  high 
thoughts  deep  into  heart  and  brain. 

It  is  both  praise  and  blame  of  Emerson's  poetry  to 
say  that  it  is  much  like  his  prose.  The  thought,  par 
ticularly  in  the  philosophical  poems,  is  often  identical 
with  that  in  the  essays,  and  sometimes  even  the  lan 
guage  is  very  similar.3  The  nature  poems  show  the 

1  "  His  practice  was,  when  a  sentence  had  taken  shape,  to  write  it  out 
in  his  journal,  and  leave  it  to  find  its  fellows  afterward.     These  journals, 
paged  and  indexed,  were  the  quarry  from  which  he  built  his  lectures 
and  essays.     When  he  had  a  paper  to  get  ready,  he  took  the  material 
collected  under  the  particular  heading,  and  added  whatever  suggested 
itself  at  the  moment."  —  Cabot,  Vol.  I.,  p.  294. 

2  Emerson,  in  Discourses  in  America. 

3  Compare  Each  and  All  with  "  Nothing  is  quite  beautiful  alone  " 
(Nature,  Chap.  III.)  ;  Brahma,  with  "  The  act  of  seeing  and  the  thing 
seen,  the  seer  and  the  spectacle,  the  subject  and  the  object,  are  one  " 
(The  Over-Soul}  ;  Merlin  with  the  essay  The  Poet ;  Days  with  "They 
come  and  go  like  muffled  and  veiled  figures;  .  .  .  they  say  nothing;  and 
if  we  do  not  use  the  gifts  they  bring,  they  carry  them  as  silently  away  " 


208      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815   TO    1870. 

same  keen  observation  of  natural  objects,  and  the  same 
fresh  delight  in  them,  as  appear  in  many  prose  pas 
sages;  and  frequently  they  express  or  imply  the  ideal 
istic  philosophy  of  the  relations  of  nature  to  God  and 
man.  In  poems  on  the  conduct  of  life,  as  Good-Bye, 
Forbearance,  Days,  and  Terminus,  are  seen  the  same 
serenity,  delicacy,  and  good  sense  as  in  the  ethical  and 
practical  essays.  The  historical  and  political  addresses 
have  their  poetical  counterparts  in  the  hymns  and  odes 
composed  for  various  public  occasions.  In  the  poems 
as  a  whole  there  is  also  the  same  lack  of  passion,  per 
sonality,  and  structural  unity  —  a  lack  far  more  serious 
in  poetry  than  in  prose.  There  is  furthermore  a  marked 
deficiency  of  music  and  ease.  Verse  does  not  seem  to 
have  been  a  natural  mode  of  expression  for  Emerson; 
even  in  that  easiest  of  metres  in  which  he  habitually 
wrote,  rhythm  and  rhyme  were  often  secured  only  by 
awkward  inversions  and  compressions.  But  occasion 
ally,  as  in  the  Concord  Hymn  and  Days,  he  wrote 
poems  of  admirable  wholeness  and  unity,  as  fine  in 
expression  as  in  thought.  And  many  of  the  poems  less 
successful  as  wholes  are  strewn  thick  with  individual 
lines  and  stanzas  that  reveal  a  remarkable  gift  in  phrase- 
making.  For  sententiousness  in  verse  Emerson  has  no 
equal  among  English-speaking  poets  of  the  nineteenth 
century.1 

The  fame  and  influence  of  the  "sage  of  Concord" 
have  suffered  some  diminution  since  his  prime,  but  much 


(  Works  and  Days}  ;    The  Sphinx,  The  Problem,  Wood-Notes,  etc.,  with 
Emerson's  philosophy  of  God,  Nature,  and  Man. 

1  See  particularly  The  Problem,  The  Rhodora,  The  Humble-Dee,  The 
Snow-Storm,  Threnody,  Concord  Hymn,  and  Voluntaries. 


MINOR   TRANSCENDENTALISTS.  209 

yet  remains  and  will  remain.  He  was  not  one  of  the 
world's  great  intellects  or  great  writers,  but  he  was  one 
of  its  great  and  high  souls;  in  Matthew  Arnold's  phrase, 
"  the  friend  and  aider  of  those  who  would  live  in  the 
spirit,"1  and  as  such  he  must  be  reckoned  among  the 
most  powerful  forces  of  the  century.  Because  of  his 
spiritual  charm  he  has  justly  been  likened  to  Cardinal 
Newman.  But  the  immense  difference  between  the  two 
men  at  one  point  is  really  more  significant.  Newman's 
beautiful  soul  drew-  its  nourishment  from  a  faith  based 
on  authority  and  the  Past.  Emerson's  rested  on  intui 
tion  in  the  Present.  A  judgment  as  to  the  intrinsic 
superiority  of  either  type  of  faith  would  be  out  of  place 
in  these  pages;  but  it  may  with  propriety  be  said  that 
the  second  is  more  in  accord  with  the  Time-Spirit,  and 
therefore  more  helpful  to  many  souls  in  this  age  of 
transition  and  doubt.  In  fact  it  is  probably  Emerson's 
greatest  service  to  his  country  and  his  time  that  he 
demonstrated  in  his  own  person  the  possibility  of  com 
bining  the  intellect  of  the  rationalist  with  the  spiritu 
ality  of  the  saint.2 

AMOS  BRONSON  ALCOTT  (1799-1888),  a  native  of  Con 
necticut  but  long  resident  in  or  near  Boston  and  Con 
cord,  was  for  many  years  prominent  in  Transcendental 
circles.  He  had  the  reputation  of  being  a  wonderful 
talker  on  philosophical  themes,  although  his  friends 
admitted  that  he  could  not  adequately  express  himself 
in  print.3  Nowadays  it  is  difficult  wholly  to  escape  the 


1  Emerson,  in  Discourses  in  America. 

2  See  the  last  paragraph  of    Worship  (in  The  Conduct  of  Life),iov 
Emerson's  idea  of  the  religion  of  the  future. 

8  See  Appendix,  D,  for  the  titles  of  his  principal  books. 
P 


210      THE    LITERATURE    FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

suspicion  that  Mr.  Alcott  came  perilously  near  being  a 
charlatan  in  philosophy  without  knowing  it.  SARAH 
MARGARET  FULLER  OSSOLI  (1810-1850)  was  for  a  time 
editor  of  The  Dial,  the  short-lived  organ  of  Transcen 
dentalism;  in  1846  she  became  the  literary  critic  of 
The  New  York  Tribune ;  two  years  later  she  went  to 
Europe,  where  she  married  the  Marquis  Ossoli  and 
devotedly  nursed  the  wounded  in  the  Italian  revolution 
of  1849;  together  with  her  husband  and  child,  she  met 
death  by  shipwreck  while  returning  to  America.  Her 
brilliant  intellect  and  ardent  temperament  did  not  find 
full  expression  in  her  writings; 1  but  she  was  a  consider 
able  power  in  her  day,  and  is  still  an  interesting  though 
somewhat  pathetic  figure  in  the  history  of  American 
letters.  JONES  VERY  (1813-1880),  an  unordained  Uni 
tarian  clergyman  and  one  of  Emerson's  most  valued 
friends,  had  in  him  an  eccentric  streak  amounting  al 
most  to  insanity;  but  his  Poems  and  Essays  (1839) 
reveal  an  original  and  intensely  spiritual  nature,  and 
an  unusual  gift  of  terse,  fresh,  direct  expression  within 
a  limited  field. 

The  genius  of  HENRY  DAVID  THOREAU2  was  not  pri- 

1  Woman  in  the  Nineteenth  Century,  1844 ;    Papers  on  Literature 
and  Art,  1846;  Memoirs,  1851;  etc. 

2  LIFE.     Born  in  Concord,  Mass.,  July  12,  1817 ;  of  French  descent 
on  the  paternal  side;   attended  schools  in   Boston   and  Concord;    in 
Harvard  College,  1833-1837 ;  taught  school  during  his  vacations,  and 
in  Concord  Academy  in  1838 ;  at  intervals  assisted  in  his  father's  busi 
ness  of  pencil-making;    for  many  years   a   land   surveyor;    after   his 
father's  death,  in  1857,  carried  on  the  pencil  business  for  the  benefit  of 
his  mother  and  sister;  because  of  consumption  went  to  Minnesota  in 
1861 ;  died  in  Concord,  May  6,  1862. 

WORKS.  A  Week  on  the  Concord  and  Merrimac  Rivers,  1849. 
Walden,  1854.  Excursions,  1863.  The  Maine  Woods,  1864.  Cape 
Cod,  1865.  Letters,  1865.  A  Yankee  in  Canada,  1866.  Early  Spring 


HENRY    DAVID   THOREAU.  211 

marily  literary,  yet  he  lias  a  secure  niche  in  American 
literature.  Even  in  boyhood  he  showed  a  marked  love 
of  nature.  At  Harvard  he  was  "far  from  distinguished 
as  a  scholar,"  and  was  thought  to  be  "of  an  unsocial 
disposition."  l  The  year  after  his  return  to  Concord,  he 
refused,  at  the  risk  of  imprisonment,  to  pay  the  church 
tax  which  was  still  levied  by  the  parish.  In  this  protest 
against  the  union  of  Church  and  State,  made  soon  after 
he  came  under  the  personal  influence  of  Emerson,  may 
perhaps  be  seen  an  instance  of  the  zeal  of  the  disciple 
outrunning  the  discretion  of  the  master.  Thoreau  was 
even  accused  of  imitating  Emerson's  tone  and  manner. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  he  was  profoundly  influenced  by 
the  greater  nature,  but  his  personality  and  writings  as 
a  whole  are  certainly  a  very  original  kind  of  imitation. 
Henceforth  Thoreau' s  manner  of  life  was  extremely 
independent.  He  never  married,2  and  his  own  few 
and  simple  wants  were  easily  supplied.  His  time  was, 
therefore,  largely  free  for  that  outdoor  study  of  nature 
in  which  he  most  delighted,  and  for  considerable  liter 
ary  labor.  His  residence  in  a  hut  on  the  shore  of 
Walden  Pond,  in  1845-1847,  has  often  been  misinter 
preted  and  made  too  much  of.  It  was  only  an  episode 
in  his  life,  and  he  never  meant  to  preach  by  it  that  all 
men  should  live  in  huts  or  that  civilization  was  a  mis- 

in  Massachusetts,  1881.  Summer,  1884.  Winter,  1887.  Autumn, 
1892.  Many  magazine  articles  (in  The  Dial,  Putnam's  Magazine,  The 
Atlantic  Monthly,  etc.),  containing  a  good  deal  of  the  subject-matter  in 
the  above  volumes,  appeared  during  Thoreau's  lifetime. 

1  R.  W.  Emerson,  by  D.  G.  Haskins,  as  quoted  in  H.  S.  Salt's  life  of 
Thoreau,  pp.  25,  26  (Great  Writers  Series). 

2  There  is  a  story  that  Thoreau  loved  a  Miss  Sewall,  but  resigned  his 
hopes  in  his  brother's  favor,  the  lady  finally  marrying  another  after  all. 
Thoreau's  poem  Sympathy  is  thought  to  refer  to  Miss  Sewall. 


212      THE   LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

take.  Rather  it  was  a  demonstration,  first  to  himself 
and  then  to  others,  that  man's  happiness  and  higher 
life  are  not  dependent  upon  luxuries  nor  even  upon 
external  refinements.  Thoreau  did  believe  that  men 
would  be  the  better  for  living  more  simply  and  closer 
to  nature;  but  he  was  no  cynic  nor  hermit.  His  seri 
ous  literary  life  began  with  his  diary  in  1837.  His  first 
poems  were  composed  soon  after.  In  1838,  and  nearly 
every  year  afterward,  he  lectured  in  the  Concord  lyceum. 
To  The  Dial  he  contributed  poems  and  essays,  and  from 
about  the  year  1849  ne  looked  upon  writing  and  lec 
turing  as  his  regular  occupation.  He  was  ardent  in 
the  anti-slavery  cause,  suffering  imprisonment  in  the 
Concord  jail  for  one  night,  in  1845,  rather  than  pay 
taxes  under  a  government  that  was  waging  the  pro- 
slavery  Mexican  War;  and  his  lecture  on  John  Brown, 
delivered  in  Concord  on  October  30,  1859,  and  repeated 
in  Boston  five  days  later,  before  a  large  audience,  is  said 
to  have  been  the  first  public  utterance  on  behalf  of  that 
noble  fanatic.  Thoreau 's  work  was  now  almost  done.  A 
severe  cold  developed  an  inherited  tendency  to  consump 
tion,  which  could  not  be  stayed  by  residence  in  Minne 
sota;  he  returned  to  Concord  only  to  die,  his  last  words, 
characteristically  enough,  being  "  moose  "  and  "  Indian." 
Thoreau's  "whole  figure,"  said  one  who  knew  him 
well,  "had  an  active  earnestness,  as  if  he  had  no 
moment  to  waste."1  He  seldom  used  flesh,  wine,  tea, 
or  coffee.  He  desired,  he  said,  to  live  "as  tenderly 
and  daintily  as  one  would  pluck  a  flower."  ~  His  senses 
were  extraordinarily  keen,  and  his  entire  nature  was  of 

1  Thoreau,  the  Poet-Naturalist,  by  Ellery  Channing,  as  quoted  by 
Salt,  pp.  86,  87.  2  Salt,  p.  89. 


NATHANIEL   HAWTHORNE.  213 

extreme  delicacy  and  purity,  even  to  vestal  coldness. 
"I  love  Henry,"  said  a  friend,  "but  I  cannot  like  him; 
and  as  for  taking  his  arm,  I  should  as  soon  think  of 
taking  the  arm  of  an  elm  tree."  l  Yet  he  was  capable  of 
true  and  high  friendship,  and  even  the  reserved  and 
sensitive  Hawthorne  gladly  spent  many  hours  in  his 
company.  His  writings  cleave  so  closely  to  the  man 
that  they  can  hardly  be  studied  wholly  apart,  nor  is  it 
necessary  so  to  consider  them  at  length  here.  What 
is  most  remarkable  in  them  is  their  wild  "tang,"  the 
subtlety  and  the  penetrative  quality  of  their  imaginative 
sympathy  with  the  things  of  field,  forest,  and  stream. 
The  minuteness,  accuracy,  and  delicacy  of  the  observa 
tion  and  feeling  are  remarkable;  while  mysticism,  fancy, 
poetic  beauty,  and  a  vein  of  shrewd  humor  often  com 
bine  with  the  other  qualities  to  make  a  whole  whose 
effect  is  unique.  Thoreau's  verse  is  much  like  Emer 
son's  on  a  smaller  scale  and  a  lower  plane,  having  the 
same  technical  faults  and  occasionally  the  same  pierc 
ing  felicity  of  phrase.  On  the  whole,  Thoreau  must  be 
classed  with  the  minor  American  authors;  but  there  is 
no  one  just  like  him,  and  the  flavor  of  his  best  work  is 
exceedingly  fine.2 

Like    so  many  other  American  authors,    NATHANIEL 
HAWTHORNE  3  was  descended  from  the  earliest  settlers  of 

1  Salt,  p.  90.     Cf.  Thoreau's  ideal  of  love  and  friendship,  in  Early 
Spring  in  Massachusetts. 

2  Excursions  contains  some  of  his  finest  works.     See,  particularly, 
Wild  Apples,  Autumnal  Tints,  Walking,  Night  and  Moonlight,  and  A 
Walk  to  Wachusett. 

3  LIFE.     Born  in  Salem,   Mass.,  July  4,  1804.     Father  died,  1808. 
Educated  at  an  uncle's  expense  in  private  schools ;  by  a  tutor;  and  at 
Bowdoin  College,  1821-1825.     In  Salem,  writing  stories  for  magazines, 
1825-1839,  with  excursions  to  the  lakes,  New  York,  Maine,  etc.     Editor 


214      THE    LITERATURE    FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

New  England.  Major  William  Hawthorne  came  to 
Boston  in  1630,  and  was  long  prominent  in  the  colony 
as  Indian  fighter,  persecutor  of  the  Quakers,  and  speaker 
of  the  legislature.  The  novelist's  grandfather  and  father 
were  sea-captains,  the  former,  "Bold  Daniel"  Haw 
thorne,  commanding  a  privateer  during  the  Revolution 
ary  War.  On  his  mother's  side  Hawthorne  was  descended 
from  the  Mannings,  who  came  to  New  England  in  1676; 
they  were  a  vigorous  and  long-lived  race.  With  such 
ancestry  it  would  be  strange  if  the  romancer  had  been 
the  delicate,  morbid  being  whom  many  readers  sup 
posed  him  to  be;  but  he  was  far  from  that.  His  boy- 


of  American  Magazine  of  Useful  and  Entertaining  Knowledge,  1836- 
1838.  Engaged  to  Sophia  A.  Peabody,  1838.  Weigher  and  gauger  in 
Boston  Custom  House,  1839-1841.  At  Brook  Farm,  1841.  Married, 
1842;  three  children  were  born  to  him.  In  the  Old  Manse,  Concord, 
Mass.,  1842-1846.  Surveyor  of  Customs,  Salem,  1846-1849.  In  Lenox, 
Mass.,  1850-1851;  in  West  Newton,  Mass.,  1851-1852;  in  Concord, 
having  bought  the  "  Wayside  "  House,  1852-1853.  Consul  at  Liver 
pool,  1853-1857.  In  Italy,  1858-1859.  In  England,  1859-1860.  At  the 
Wayside,  1860-1864.  Died  at  Plymouth,  N.  H.,  May  18,  1864;  buried 
at  Concord.  A  Unitarian. 

WORKS.  Fanshawe,  1828.  Stories  and  articles  (many  afterward 
reprinted  in  Twice-Told  Tales,  etc.)  in  the  magazines,  1831-1862. 
Twice-Told  Tales,  First  Series,  1837;  Second  Series,  1842.  Grand 
father's  Chair,  1841.  Famous  Old  People  (second  part  of  Grandfather's 
Chair),  1841.  Liberty  Tree  (third  part  of  Grandfather's  Chair),  1842. 
Biographical  Stories  for  Children,  1842.  Mosses  from  an  Old  Manse, 
1846.  The  Scarlet  Letter,  1850.  The  House  of  the  Seven  Gables, 
1851.  True  Stories  from  History  and  Biography  (Grandfather's  Chair 
and  Biographical  Stories),  1851.  A  Wonder-Book,  1851.  The  Snow 
Image  and  Other  Tales,  1851.  The  Blithedale  Romance,  1852.  Life  of 
Franklin  Pierce,  1852.  Tanglewood  Tales,  being  a  second  Wonder- 
Book,  1853.  The  Marble  Faun  (=  The  Transformation),  1860.  Our 
Old  Home,  1863.  The  Dolliver  Romance :  first  part,  in  The  Atlantic 
Monthly,  1864 ;  three  parts,  1876.  American  Note-Books,  1868.  English 
Note-Books,  1870.  French  and  Italian  Note-Books,  1872.  Septimius 
Felton,  1872.  Dr.  Grimshawe's  Secret,  1883.  Hawthorne's  First  Diary 
[his  son  doubts  its  genuineness],  1897. 


NATHANIEL   HAWTHORNE.  215 

hood  was  normal  enough,  except  that  his  mother  thought 
fit,  as  a  young  widow,  to  live  a  secluded  life  for  many 
years.  At  college,  so  far  from  being  a  recluse,  he  was 
decidedly  convivial,  although  his  native  fineness  and 
balance  kept  him  from  ovei stepping  the  boundary  be 
tween  freedom  and  license.  Physically  he  was  an  ath 
letic  Apollo.1  During  the  first  period  of  his  authorship, 
in  Salem,  he  indeed  lived  the  life  of  a  hermit.  "For 
months  together,"  he  says,  "I  scarcely  held  human 
intercourse  outside  of  my  own  family,  seldom  going 
o,ut  except  at  twilight,  or  only  to  take  the  nearest  way 
to  the  most  convenient  solitude."2  But  he  adds, 
"  Once  a  year,  or  thereabouts,  I  used  to  make  an  excur 
sion  of  a  few  weeks,  in  which  I  enjoyed  as  much  of  life 

1  "  Within  certain   limits  he  was  facile,  easy-going,  convivial ;    but 
beyond  these  limits  he  was  no  more  to  be  moved  than  the  Rock  of 
Gibraltar  or  the  North   Pole.      He  played  cards,  had  'wines1  in  his 
room,  and  went  off  fishing  and  shooting  with  Bridge  when  the  faculty 
thought  he  was  at  his  books ;  but  he  ...  never  defrauded  the  college 
government  of  any  duty  which  he  thought  they  had  a  right  to  claim 
from  him."     "  He  was  five  feet  ten  and  a  half  inches  in  height,  broad- 
shouldered,  but  of  a  light,  athletic  build,  not  weighing  more  than  one 
hundred  and  fifty  pounds.     His  limbs  were  beautifully  formed,  and  the 
moulding  of  his  neck  and  throat  was  as  fine  as  anything  in  antique 
sculpture.     His  hair,  which  had  a  long,  curving  wave  in  it,  approached 
blackness  in  color;   his  head  was  large   and  grandly  developed;    his 
eyebrows  were  dark  and  heavy,  with  a  superb  arch  and  space  beneath. 
His  nose  was  straight,  but  the  contour  of  his  chin  was  Roman.  .  .  . 
His  eyes  were  large,  dark  blue,  brilliant,  and  full  of  varied  expression. 
Bayard  Taylor  used  to  say  that  they  were  the  only  eyes  he  had  ever 
known  flash  fire.  .  .  .     His  complexion  was  delicate  and  transparent, 
rather  dark  than  light,  with  a  ruddy  tinge  in  the  cheeks.  ...      His 
hands  were  large  and  muscular.  ...     Up  to  the  time  he  was  forty  years 
old,  he  could  clear  a  height  of  five  feet  at  a  standing  jump.     His  voice, 
which  was  low  and   deep  in   ordinary  conversation,  had  astounding 
volume  when  he  chose  to  give  full  vent  to  it ;  ...  it  was  not  a  bellow, 
but  had  the  searching  nnd  electrifying  quality  of  the  blast  of  a  trumpet." 
—  Hawthorne  and  his  Wife,  by  Julian  Hawthorne,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  120,  121. 

2  Hawthorne  and  His  Wife,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  96,  97. 


216      THE   LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

as  other  people  do  in  the  whole  year's  round."  And 
this  solitude,  peopled  by  the  creations  of  his  own  im 
agination,  was  probably  best  for  him  at  that  stage  of  his 
development.  He  at  least  believed  so.1 

But  he  was  at  last  drawn  out  of  it.  His  first  stories 
appeared  in  the  magazines  anonymously;2  but  after  the 
publication  of  Twice-Told  Tales,  "I  was  compelled,"  he 
says,  "to  come  out  of  my  owl's  nest  and  lionize  in  a 
small  way."  Soon  afterward  he  met  the  noble  woman 
who  became  his  wife,  and  henceforth  solitude  of  the 
harmful  sort  was  impossible  for  him;  his  married  life 
was  ideal.3  There  was  in  Hawthorne,  however,  an 
undoubted  tendency  to  excessive  seclusion  from  the 
everyday  world.  He  himself  recognized  the  tendency 
and  sought  to  counteract  it  by  engaging  in  practical 
work  from  time  to  time.  "  I  want  to  have  something 
to  do  with  this  material  world,"  he  said,  shortly  before 
entering  the  Boston  Custom  House.4  In  all  his  official 
positions  he  was  an  excellent  administrator,  and  when 
occasion  demanded  he  displayed  a  vigor  which  showed 
that  he  could  have  walked  the  quarter-deck  as  masterfully 


1  "  Living  in  solitude  till  the  fulness  of  time  was  come,  I  still  kept  the 
dew  of  my  youth  and  the  freshness  of  my  heart."     "  My  long  seclusion 
had  not  made  me  melancholy  or  misanthropic;  .  .  .  and  perhaps  it  was 
the  kind  of  discipline  which  my  idiosyncrasy  demanded,  and  chance 
and  my  own  instincts,  operating  together,  had  caused  me  to  do  what 
was  fittest."  —  Hawthorne  and  his  Wife,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  92,  98. 

2  The  Token,  The  New  England  Magazine,  The  Knickerbocker,  and 
other  periodicals  were  glad  to  get  his  tales.      For  the  early  stories  he 
received  $35  apiece. 

3  "  Thou  art  the  only  person  in  the  world  that  ever  was  necessary  to 
me.  ...     I  think  I  was  always  more  at  ease  alone  than  in  anybody's 
company  till  I  knew  thee.     And  now  I  am  only  myself  when  thou  art 
within  my  reach."  —  Letter  to  his  wife,  July  5,  1848. 

4  See  also  the  introduction  to  The  Scarlet  Letter. 


NATHANIEL   HAWTHORNE.  217 

as  any  of  his  seafaring  ancestors.1  Perhaps  the  same 
instinct  urged  him  to  enter  the  Brook  Farm  community 
and  engage  for  a  few  months  in  manual  labor  in  the 
open  air.  But  his  healthy  scepticism  as  to  the  more 
soaring  aspects  of  the  scheme  appears  from  the  first 
in  his  references  to  Margaret  Fuller's  "Transcendental 
heifer"  that  "hooks  the  other  cows";  and  before  long 
he  realized  that  he  was  altogether  out  of  his  element.2 
During  his  residence  in  Concord,  Hawthorne  came  to 
enjoy  the  companionship  of  Thoreau,  Emerson,  Mar 
garet  Fuller,  Ellery  Channing,  and  other  literati,  al 
though  he  never  had  any  special  liking  for  "literary 
persons."  He  liked  to  associate  with  men  of  all  sorts; 
he  studied  them  keenly,  almost  coldly,  and  his  nature 
was  so  large  and  his  imagination  so  mobile  that  he 
could  adapt  himself  to  widely  different  persons,  reveal 
ing  to  each  so  much  of  himself  as  each  could  appreciate 
—  and  no  more.3  Hawthorne's  residence  in  England 

1  "  Placid,  peaceful,  calm,  and  retiring  as  he  was  in  all  the  ordinary 
events  of  life,  he  was  tempestuous  and  irresistible  when  roused.     An 
attempt  on  the  part  of  a  rough  and  overbearing  sea-captain  to  interfere 
with  his  business  as  an  inspector  of  customs  [at  Salem]   .  .  .  was  met 
with  such  a  terrific  uprising  of  spiritual  and  physical  wrath  that  the 
dismayed  captain  fled  up  the  wharf  and  took  refuge  in  the  office,  inquir 
ing,  '  What  in  God's  name  have  you  sent  on  board  my  ship  as  an 
inspector?  '     I  have  known  no  man  more  impressive,  none  in  .whom  the 
great  reposing  strength  seemed  clad  in  such  a  robe  of  sweetness."  - 
Letter  by  G.  B.  Loring,  in  Conway's  life  of  Hawthorne,  p.  106. 

2  "  Is  it  a  praiseworthy  matter  that  I  have  spent  five  golden  months 
in  providing  food  for  cows  and  horses?      It  is  not  so."  —  American 
Note-Books,  August  12,  1841. 

3  "  Thus,  if  he  chatted  with  a  group  of  rude  sea-captains   in   the 
smoking-room  of  Mrs.  Blodgett's  boarding-house,  or  joined  a  knot  of 
boon  companions  in  a   Boston  bar-room,  or  talked  metaphysics  with 
Herman  Melville  on  the  hills  of  Berkshire,  he  would  aim  to  appear  in 
each  instance  a  man  like  they  were."  —  Hawthorne  and  his  Wife,  Vol. 
I.,  pp.  88,  89. 


218      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

did  not  do  much  for  him  as  a  man  or  an  artist.  Unfor 
tunately  he  shared  the  lingering  anti-English  prejudice 
of  many  of  his  countrymen,  and  he  met  very  few  of  the 
greatest  men  of  letters.  Thackeray,  Dickens,  "George 
Eliot,"  Tennyson,  Carlyle,  Mill,  and  most  of  the  other 
persons  who,  as  Mr.  Conway  has  said,  "might  have 
made  his  sojourn  a  cosmopolitan  education,"  remained 
strangers  to  him.  In  Italy  he  fared  better,  drinking  in 
eagerly  the  beauty  of  her  nature  and  her  art,  and  asso 
ciating  freely  with  eminent  artists.  But  his  race  was 
now  almost  run.  Soon  after  his  return  to  America  his 
superb  health  began  to  fail;  there  was  no  specific  dis 
ease,  but  a  general  decline.  His  last  literary  tasks  fell 
from  his  hands  unfinished.  He  sought  new  strength 
in  a  journey  through  northern  New  England,  in  com 
pany  with  his  college  friend,  ex-President  Pierce;  but 
it  was  soon  ended  by  his  entrance  upon  a  longer  jour 
ney,  whence  there  is  no  returning.  At  the  inn,  where 
they  had  stopped  for  the  night,  Hawthorne  quietly 
passed  away  in  sleep. 

"  He  is  so  simple,  so  transparent,  so  just,  so  tender, 
so  magnanimous,"  wrote  his  wife,  "that  my  highest 
instinct  could  only  correspond  with  his  will.  I  never 
knew  such  delicacy  of  nature.  .  .  .  Was  ever  such  a 
union  of  power  and  gentleness,  softness  and  spirit,  pas 
sion  and  reason?  .  .  .  My  dearest  Love  waits  upon 
God  like  a  child."1  His  relations  with  his  children 
were  as  charming  as  one  would  expect  them  to  be, 
which  is  saying  much.  He  was  their  companion  —  play 
ful,  imaginative,  just,  indulgent  without  weakness.  Haw 
thorne  was  always  shy  in  general  society,  although  less  so 

1  Hawthorne  and  his  Wife,  Vol.  I.,  p.  273. 


NATHANIEL    HAWTHORNE.  219 

in  his  last  years.  But  "with  a  single  companion  his 
talk  flowed  on  sensibly,  and  quietly,  and  full  of  wisdom 
and  shrewdness;  he  discussed  books  with  wonderful 
acuteness,  sometimes  with  startling  power;  he  analyzed 
men,  their  characters,  and  motives,  and  capacity,  with 
great  penetration."1  His  best  season  for  composition 
was  the  winter,  and  his  best  part  of  the  day  the  morn 
ing  ;  when  once  fairly  started  he  worked  very  regularly. 
While  lost  in  thought  he  sometimes  did  things  dreadful 
to  the  mind  of  the  well-regulated  housekeeper,  wiping 
his  pen  upon  the  lining  of  his  lovely  dressing-gown, 
cutting  up  the  sleeve  of  a  new  shirt  with  the  scissors, 
and  whittling  completely  away  one  of  the  leaves  of  his 
writing-table.  But  these  are  the  privileges  of  genius. 

Hawthorne's  Life  of  Franklin  Pierce,  the  price  paid 
for  a  consulship  and  residence  abroad,  shows  at  least  the 
practical  side  of  this  dreamy  romancer  and  his  loyalty  to 
an  old  college  friend.  Children,  young  and  old,  cannot 
regret  that  in  Grandfather's  Chair,  Biographical  Stones, 
A  Wonder  Book,  Tanglcwood  Tales,  etc.,  he  turned  aside 
from  pure  fiction  to  lend  his  charm  of  style  and  fancy  to 
the  illumination  of  history  and  myth.  Our  Old  Home 
is  biased  and  inadequate  as  a  description  of  the  English 
people;  but  it  does  tell  some  truths  that  perhaps  needed 
to  be  told,  and  we  know  Hawthorne  the  better  for  it, 
especially  his  limitations  and  a  certain  trenchant  inde 
pendence.  The  Note-Books,  besides  having  many  pas 
sages  of  intrinsic  interest,  are  windows  through  which 
one  may  look  into  the  life  of  the  man  and  the  artist. 

Twice-Told  Tales  and  Mosses  from  an  Old  Manse, 
although  they  did  not  bring  him  wide  fame,  contain  some 

1  G.  B.  Loring,  quoted  in  Conway's  life  of  Hawthorne,  p.  107. 


220      THE   LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

of  Hawthorne's  most  characteristic  work.  In  beauty  of 
style,  in  delicate  fancy  playing  on  the  borderland  of  the 
natural  and  the  supernatural,  in  sombre  imagination, 
and  in  wedding  of  the  moral  to  the  spectral,  he  never 
did  anything  essentially  better,  page  for  page,  than 
"The  Snow-Image,"  "  Lady  Eleanore's  Mantle,"  "Young 
Goodman  Brown,"  and  many  other  of  these  pieces, 
among  which  every  reader  has  his  own  favorites.  Some 
of  them  are  comparatively  crude,  manifestly  the  work 
of  an  apprentice  hand;  and  still  others,  as  "The  Min 
ister's  Black  Veil"  and  "Dr.  Heidegger's  Experiment," 
have,  as  preliminary  studies  for  the  romances,  an  inter 
est  which  they  would  not  otherwise  possess.  Certain 
phases  of  Hawthorne's  mind,  however,  are  better  illus 
trated  here  than  in  the  longer  works.  His  kindly, 
broad-souled,  fine-tempered  interest  in  humanity  appear, 
more  explicitly,  at  least,  in  such  sketches  as  "A  Rill 
from  the  Town  Pump,"  "Sunday  at  Home,"  and  "The 
Procession  of  Life."  His  satiric  powers,  also,  are  given 
freer  rein.  In  "  Mrs.  Bullfrog  "  the  satire  is  broad  and 
comparatively  commonplace;  in  "The  Celestial  Rail 
road"  it  enters  the  world  of  current  religion;  in 
"Feathertop"  it  is  imaginatively  combined  with  the 
uncanny  and  the  grotesquely  pathetic.  In  "  Buds  and 
Bird-Voices"  and  in  "The  Old  Manse"  one  sees  at 
their  best  the  poet  novelist's  minute  knowledge  and  deli 
cately  luxurious  love  of  nature,  with  exquisite  interplay 
of  fancy,  tenderness,  and  humor. 

Hawthorne's  youthful  romance,  Fanshawe,  was  a  fail 
ure.  In  wholeness  and  depth  of  impression  The  Scarlet 
Letter,  the  first  of  the  successful  romances,  is  also  the 
best;  as  a  picture  of  the  inner  life  of  the  New  England 


NATHANIEL   HAWTHORNE.  221 

Puritans,  together  with  a  study  of  the  effects  of  sin  upon 
the  soul,  it  stands  quite  alone  in  American  literature 
for  truth,  depth,  and  subtlety.  The  House  of  the  Seven 
Gables  is  slighter  and  more  playful,  the  most  domestic, 
of  Hawthorne's  novels,  and  for  that  reason  has  a  pecul 
iarly  gentle  charm.  The  Blithedale  Romance  was  not 
intended  to  be  a  truthful  picture  of  the  Brook  Farm 
community,  although  it  was  manifestly  suggested  by 
that  Transcendental  Utopia ;  and  its  purely  imaginative 
value  is  slight.  The  Marble  Faun,  Hawthorne's  second 
great  creation,  showed,  however,  that  his  spiritual  eye 
was  not  yet  dimmed  nor  his  imaginative  force  abated; 
in  unity,  intensity,  and  tragic  power  it  is  inferior  to  The 
Scarlet  Letter,  but  it  is  superior  in  sweep  of  thought  and 
in  ideal  beauty.  Of  the  posthumous  romances,  Sep- 
timius  Felton  and  The  Dollivcr  Romance  seem  to  indi 
cate  some  falling  off  in  imaginative  power,  even  after 
allowance  is  made  for  their  unfinished  state.  Doctor 
Grimshawe's  Secret,  in  the  form  in  which  we  have  it,  is 
unsuccessful  in  its  attempt  to  combine  scenes  in  the 
New  World  with  scenes  in  the  Old,  and  the  latter  are 
marred  by  much  irrelevant  discussion  of  the  character 
istics  of  England;  yet  the  portrayal  of  the  grim  old 
doctor  and  the  description  of  the  secret  chamber  are 
unsurpassed  by  anything  in  Hawthorne's  pages,  and 
bring  a  keen  realization  of  the  loss  which  American  lit 
erature  sustained  in  the  premature  death  of  its  chief 
magician. 

In  the  introduction  to  The  Scarlet  Letter,  Hawthorne 
has,  with  charming  self -mockery,  imagined  his  grim 
ancestor's  scorn  for  him  as  a  "writer  of  story-books"; 
he  was,  nevertheless,  as  deeply  moral  and  spiritual  as 


222      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

the  noblest  of  the  Puritans,  as  profoundly  interested  in 
the  problems  of  sin,  the  soul,  and  the  supernatural.  But 
he  was  an  artist,  approaching  moral  and  spiritual  realities 
from  the  side  of  the  imagination.  He  did  not  think  in 
sermons  but  in  pictures.  He  taught  no  catechism, 
formulated  no  creed  or  philosophy:  instead,  he  looked 
into  Roger  Chillingworth's  soul  and  saw  slow  revenge 
doing  its  hideous  work  there,  like  a  cancer;  he  beheld 
Donatello  startled  by  impulsive  crime  into  a  higher  life; 
he  created  Hilda,  that  spiritual  lily,  whose  very  exist 
ence  is  an  argument  for  God  and  immortality,  and  to 
whom  the  stain  even  of  another's  sin  is  agony. 

As  an  artist  Hawthorne  belongs  with  the  idealists; 
and  the  phase  of  the  ideal  which  most  fascinated  him 
was  the  supernatural.1  For  an  American  novelist  of 
this  type  the  range  of  themes  was  very  limited.  It  was 
almost  inevitable  that  Hawthorne  should  turn  to  the 
early  history  of  the  colonies,  around  which  time  had 
already  thrown  some  halo  of  romance;  to  the  gloomy 
superstition  of  witchcraft,  whose  most  terrible  memories 
were  connected  with  his  native  village;  and  to  the  allied 
arts  of  alchemy  and  magic  pharmacy,  the  pursuit  of 
which  could  easily  be  transferred  to  the  shores  of  the 
New  World.  Even  in  handling  more  modern  and 
realistic  material,  in  The  House  of  the  Seven  Gables,  he 
paints  in  a  background  of  witchcraft,  ancestral  wrong, 
and  hereditary  curse.  The  Blithedale  Romance  is  a 
comparative  failure  for  the  lack  of  such  a  background. 

1  The  influence  of  heredity  may  be  traced  pretty  plainly  here.  Haw 
thorne's  sea-faring  ancestors  doubtless  shared  the  superstitious  tenden 
cies  of  their  class  ;  and  the  ghosts  of  the  witches  who  were  so  vigorously 
persecuted  by  the  second  of  his  line  in  America  evidently  returned  to 
haunt  the  descendant  of  their  tormentor. 


NATHANIEL    HAWTHORNE.  223 

In  The  Marble  Faun  the  romancer  escapes  from  the 
realm  of  the  Christian  supernatural  only  to  take  refuge 
in  the  pagan  and  in  the  world  of  Italian  art.  The 
posthumous  works  return,  for  the  most  part,  to  the 
regions  of  magic  and  mystery.  Hawthorne  had  also, 
however,  a  keen  eye  for  the  facts  of  the  external  world. 
The  American  Note-Books  reveal  an  almost  microscopic 
observation  of  nature;  the  description  of  the  finding  of 
Zenobia's  body,  in  The  Blithedale  Romance,  is  painfully 
realistic; 1  many  of  the  descriptions  in  The  Marble  Faun 
are  transferred,  with  only  trifling  changes,  from  the 
Italian  Note-Books ;  and  the  introduction  to  The  Scarlet 
Letter  shows  how  shrewdly  this  spinner  of  gossamer  fan 
cies  read  the  character  of  his  prosaic  associates  in  the 
Salem  custom-house.2 

This  vivid  sense  of  two  worlds,  working  with  his 
poetic  instinct  to  express  the  spiritual  by  the  material, 
the  inner  by  the  outer,  resulted  in  one  conspicuous 
feature  of  Hawthorne's  method,  that  symbolism  in  which 
his  tales  and  novels  abound  and  by  which  he  produces 
some  of  his  most  magical  effects.  The  scarlet  letter, 
the  old  house  of  the  seven  gables,  the  flower  in  Zenobia's 
hair,  Hilda's  doves,  Doctor  Grimshawe's  monstrous 
spider,  with  many  other  symbolic  objects  and  incidents, 
will  occur  to  every  one;  and  the  reader  attentive  to  this 
point  knows  into  what  minutiae  the  symbolism  is  some 
times  carried.  In  places,  indeed,  and  in  the  total 
effect,  it  only  just  avoids  the  forced  and  the  unnatural; 

1  It  is  based  upon  fact;    see  Nathaniel  Hawthorne  and  His    Wife, 
Vol.  I.,  p.  296. 

2  See  also  the  many  lifelike  and  even  homely  details  in  The  House  of 
the  Seven  Gables,  particularly  the  portrait  of  Uncle.  Venner  and  the  talk 
of  the  working-men  about  the  vicissitudes  of  cent-shops. 


224      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

but  it  does  avoid  them,  owing  to  a  delicate  and  sugges 
tive  manner  and  to  the  fanciful,  ideal  tone  of  the 
romances  as  wholes,  which  allows  of  the  introduction  of 
more  symbolism  than  would  be  permissible  in  realistic 
novels.1  Another  phase  of  Hawthorne's  method  may, 
perhaps,  be  traced  in  part  to  the  same  source.  Again 
and  again  he  opposes  to  each  other  two  characters  which 
in  one  way  or  another  represent  the  two  sides  of  reality. 
Hester  and  Dimmesdale  are  both  sinful;  but  the  former's 
nature  is  the  more  earthly,  although  the  stronger  and 
richer;  the  latter 's  is  the  more  spiritual.  Judge 
Pyncheon,  gross  and  practical,  is  set  over  against  the 
aesthetically  exquisite  Clifford.  The  florid  luxuriance 
of  Zenobia's  being  is  contrasted  with  the  pallid  ethereal- 
ness  of  Priscilla's.  Miriam  and  Hilda  present  a  similar 
contrast,  although  the  latter,  combining  delicacy  with 
great  spiritual  power,  is  a  much  higher  conception  than 
the  negative  Priscilla.  Colcord  is  of  the  same  type  as 
Clifford,  only  moral  instead  of  aesthetic,  his  frail  and 
gentle  figure  standing  out  in  lines  of  air  and  light  against 
the  black,  burly  form  of  Doctor  Grimshawe,  in  whom 
good  and  evil  struggle  together,  each  a  shaggy  Titan. 
This  constant  opposition  of  characters  must,  however, 
have  been  due,  in  part,  to  a  merely  artistic  sense  of  the 
value  of  contrast  and  variety.  Hence  came  also,  no 
doubt,  Hawthorne's  practice  of  relieving  the  gloom  by 
characters  such  as  Phoebe,  who  is  like  a  ray  of  sunshine 
let  into  the  dark  old  house  of  the  seven  gables,  or  by 


1  In  giving  the  lightning  the  shape  of  the  scarlet  letter,  Hawthorne 
has  perhaps  exceeded  the  limits  even  for  a  fanciful  romance.  One 
wishes,  at  least,  that  he  had  allowed  no  one  but  the  conscience-stricken 
Dimmesdale  to  detect  the  resemblance. 


NATHANIEL   HAWTHORNE.  225 

young  children,  as  in  The  Scarlet  Letter,  The  Dolliver 
Romance,  and  Doctor  Grimshawe's  Secret,  where  their 
frolic  life  and  flower-like  beauty  soften  yet  heighten  the 
effects  of  age  and  guilt. 

Hawthorne's  art,  in  other  ways  also,  is  of  very  high 
quality.  Of  his  style  an  English  critic  not  given  to  over 
praise  says,  "It  is  impossible  to  exaggerate  its  excel 
lence."  1  Its  purity,  delicate  precision,  and  poetic  beauty 
of  sound  and  movement  are  not  only  a  rare  pleasure  in 
themselves,  but  peculiarly  effective,  and  indeed  neces 
sary,  in  romances  so  imaginative  and  ideal.  Hawthorne's 
plots,  except  in  The  Scarlet  Letter,  are  deficient  in 
coherence  and  climax;  yet  all  contain  thrilling  situa 
tions,  and  serve  well  their  main  purpose  of  furnishing  a 
narrative  framework  for  the  study  of  the  characters  and 
"the  thoughtful  moral."  2  His  handling  of  the  magical 
and  the  supernatural  is  wonderfully  artful.  Writing  for 
a  practical  and  even  sceptical  generation,  in  a  country 
where,  as  he  himself  said,  there  was  nothing  but  "a 
commonplace  prosperity,  in  broad  and  simple  day 
light,"  3  he  yet  gains  our  imaginative  credence  for  witch 
craft,  the  elixir  of  life,  and  divers  other  superannuated 
marvels.  The  inner  secrets  of  this  verbal  wizardry  lie 
below  the  plummet  of  analysis,  deep  in  the  very  centre 
of  the  magician's  gift  of-  imagination  and  expression; 
but  some  of  the  means  lie  nearer  the  surface.  In  one 
way  or  another  a  more  or  less  remote,  mystical,  or 
poetical  background  is  usually  secured,  either  in  early 


1  John  Nichol,  in  his  American  Literature. 

2  Hawthorne's  description  of  The  Marble  Faun  (in  the  Preface)  as 
"  a  fanciful  story,  evolving  a  thoughtful  moral,"  applies  nearly  as  well  to 
any  of  his  romances.  8  Preface  to  The  Marble  Faun. 

Q 


226      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

colonial  times,  or,  in  one  instance,  in  romantic  Italy, 
which  the  author  himself  says  "  was  chiefly  valuable  to 
him  as  affording  a  sort  of  poetic  or  fairy  precinct,  where 
actualities  would  not  be  so  terribly  insisted  upon."1 
Again,  with  or  without  such  a  background,  we  are  led 
up  to  the  marvel  by  a  series  of  gentle  steps :  first  a  mere 
rumor,  fancy,  or  half -mocking  jest;  then,  it  may  be, 
some  slight  confirmatory  piece  of  evidence,  laughingly 
withdrawn  before  it  can  be  closely  examined;  next,  a 
sly  advance  under  cover  of  the  very  scepticism  by  which 
our  reason  has  just  been  reassured;  until  finally  we  find 
ourselves,  we  hardly  know  how,  face  to  face  with  the 
monster,  who  now  seems  not  so  very  strange  after  all.2 
In  its  broad  relations,  Hawthorne's  work  is  a  part  of  the 
Romantic  movement  in  modern  literature,  having  close 
affinities  with  and  some  indebtedness  to  the  European 
fiction  of  mystery  and  terror,  to  the  poetry  of  Blake, 
Coleridge,  and  Shelley,  and  to  the  writings  of  his  coun 
trymen,  Brown  and  Poe.  But  he  is  also  original  and 
unique.  He  alone  made  the  utmost  of  the  scant  mate 
rials  furnished  by  New  England  life  for  the  romance  of 
magic  and  the  supernatural;  and  he  has  no  equal  in 
combining  these  forms  of  the  imaginative  with  the  moral 
and  spiritual.  Poe's  tales  have  at  their  best  a  brilliant 
intensity  which  one  nowhere  finds  in  Hawthorne.  But 
the  latter  is  greatly  superior  in  evenness  of  workmanship, 
in  constructive  power  on  a  large  scale,  in  range  of  sub- 

1  Preface  to  The  Marble  Faun. 

2  See  The  Snow  Image  for  one  of  the  most  skilful  of  these  graduated 
transitions:  children  playing  in  the  snow  at  one  end  of  the  process;  a 
snow-maiden  running  around  in  the  dusky  garden,  at  the  other  end ; 
and  no  perceptible  shock  or  jar  where  the  natural  glides  into  the  preter 
natural. 


JOHN    GREENLEAF   WHITTIER.  227 

jects,  in  knowledge  of  human  nature  and  ability  to  de 
lineate  character,  in  moral  and  spiritual  elevation,  and 
in  sanity  of  soul.  For,  in  spite  of  his  tendency  to 
uncanny  subjects,  Hawthorne  was  healthy  in  mind  as  in 
body.  It  is  a  superficial  and  commonplace  view  which 
sees  a  morbid  nature  in  the  creator  of  Phoebe  and 
Kenyon  and  Hilda  and  the  children  who  dance  through 
Hawthorne's  pages  like  incarnations  of  health  and  sun 
shine.  If  at  other  times  he  walks  in  dark  and  strange 
places,  it  is  not  with  the  hectic  feverishness  of  Hoff 
mann  nor  the  morbid  gloom  of  Poe,  but  with  the  noble 
curiosity  of  an  imaginative  and  spiritual  nature,  as  sane 
as  it  is  exquisitely  sensitive,  peering  into  deep,  dim 
mysteries,  speculating  boldly  upon  high  problems,  yet 
maintaining  always  a  hold  upon  the  normal  and  a  whole 
some  moral  balance.  Hawthorne  knew  well  enough  his 
own  limitations  —  the  limitations  of  idealism.1  But 
within  his  range  he  was  one  of  the  finest  natures  that 
have  manifested  themselves  in  letters,  the  greatest  artist 
in  American  literature,  and  among  the  few  great  literary 
artists  of  his  century. 

JOHN   GREENLEAF   WHITTIER' s2    earliest    ancestor   in 

1  "  The  page  of  life  that  was  spread  out  before  me  [in  the  Salem 
custom-house]  seemed  dull  and  commonplace  only  because  I  had  not 
fathomed  its  deeper  import.     A  better  book  than  I  shall  ever  write  was 
there."  —  Introduction  to  The  Scarlet  Letter. 

2  LIFE.     Born  in  Haverhill,  Mass.,  Dec.  17,  1807.     Attended  district 
school;  in  Haverhill  Academy,  1827-1828;  taught  school  in  winter  of 
1827-1828.     Edited   The  American  Manufacturer,  Boston,  1828-1829; 
The  Gazette,  Haverhill,  1830;     The  New   England  Review,  Hartford, 
1830-1831 ;  appointed  delegate  to  the  Whig  national  convention,  1831. 
Lived  on  his  Haverhill  farm,  1832-1836;  delegate  to  Anti-Slavery  na 
tional  convention,  1833;  mobbed  in  Concord,  N.  H.,  by  anti-abolition 
ists,  1835 ;  representative  from  Haverhill  in  Massachusetts  legislature, 
1835.    Removed  to  Amesbury,  Mass.,  1836.    Edited  The  Gazette,  Haver- 


228      THE   LITERATURE   FROM    1815   TO    1870. 

America  was  Thomas  Whittier,  an  Englishman,  supposed 
to  be  of  Huguenot  descent,  who  settled  in  what  is  now 
Amesbury,  Mass.,  in  1638,  removing  nine  years  later  to 
Haverhill.  His  youngest  son  married  a  Quakeress; 
and  their  descendants,  of  whom  the  poet  was  one,  were 


hill,  1836.  A  secretary,  in  New  York,  of  the  Anti-Slavery  Society,  1837. 
Edited  The  National  Enquirer  (in  1838  it  became  The  Pennsylvania  Free 
man),  1837-1840.  Lived  chiefly  at  Amesbury,  1840-1892.  Edited  The 
Middlesex  Standard,  Lowell,  1844;  virtually  edited  The  Essex  Tran 
script,  Amesbury,  1844-1846;  corresponding  editor  of  The  National 
Era,  Washington,  1847-1860;  assisted  in  starting  The  Atlantic  Monthly, 
1857.  Elected  an  overseer  of  Harvard  College,  1858;  received  from 
Harvard  the  degree  of  LL.D.,  1866;  elected  a  trustee  of  Brown  Uni 
versity,  1869.  Died  at  Hampton  Falls,  N.  H.,  Sept.  7,  1892;  buried  at 
Amesbury.  A  Quaker. 

WORKS.  Legends  of  New  England,  1831.  Moll  Pitcher,  1832. 
Justice  and  Expediency;  or,  Slavery  considered  with  a  View  to  its 
Rightful  and  Effectual  Remedy,  Abolition,  1833.  Mogg  Megone,  1836. 
Poems  written  during  the  Progress  of  the  Abolition  Question,  1837. 
Poems,  1838.  Moll  Pitcher,  and  the  Minstrel  Girl  (revised  edition), 
1840.  Lays  of  my  Home  and  other  Poems,  1843.  Miscellaneous 
Poems,  1844.  The  Stranger  in  Lowell,  1845.  Voices  of  Freedom 
(fourth  edition),  1846.  The  Supernaturalism  of  New  England,  1847. 
Poems,  1849.  Leaves  from  Margaret  Smith's  Journal  in  the  Province 
of  Massachusetts  Bay  (1678-1679),  1849.  Political  Works  (London), 
1850.  Songs  of  Labor,  and  Other  Poems,  1850.  Old  Portraits  and 
Modern  Sketches,  1850.  Little  Eva,  1852.  The  Chapel  of  the  Her 
mits,  and  Other  Poems,  1853.  A  Sabbath  Scene,  1853.  Literary  Rec 
reations  and  Miscellanies,  1854.  The  Panorama,  and  Other  Poems, 
1856.  Political  Works,  1857.  The  Sycamores,  1857.  Home  Ballads 
and  Poems,  1860.  In  War  Time,  and  Other  Poems,  1863.  National 
Lyrics,  1865."  Snow-Bound,  1866.  Prose  Works,  1866.  Maud  Muller, 
1867;  appeared  first  in  ThTNational  Era,  1854.  The  Tent  on  the 
Beach,  and  Other  Poems,  1867.  Among  the  HiTTs,  and  Other  Poems, 
1867.  Ballads  of  New  England,  1870.  Miriam  and  Other  Poems,  1871. 
The  Pennsylvania  Pilgrim,  and  Other  Poems,  1872.  Mabel  Martin,  and 
Other  Poems,  1874.  Hazel  Blossoms,  1875.  The  Vision  of  Echard,  and 
Other  Poems,  1878.  The  King's  Missive,  and  Other  Poems,  1881.  The 
Bay  of  Seven  Islands,  and  Other  Poems,  1883.  Poems  of  Nature,  1886. 
Saint  Gregory's  Guess,  and  Recent  Poems,  1886.  At  Sundown  (pri 
vately  printed),  1890;  with  a  few  additional  poems,  1892.  Very  many 
of  Whittier's  poems  appeared  first  in  newspapers  and  magazines. 


JOHN   GREENLEAF   WHITTIER.  229 

nearly  all  Friends.  Whittier's  mother  was  descended 
from  Rev.  Stephen  Bachiler,  a  clergyman  of  the  Eng 
lish  Church,  who  became  a  non-conformist  and  finally 
removed  to  Massachusetts  in  1632;  he  was  a  remarkable 
man;  "it  was  the  Bachiler  eye,  dark,  deep-set,  lustrous, 
which  marked  the  cousinship  that  existed  between 
Daniel  Webster  and  John  Greenleaf  Whittier."1  The 
latter  was  born  in  the  house  built  by  Thomas  Whittier  in 
1688  and  occupied  ever  since  by  his  descendants.  The 
old  homestead,  where  the  poet  spent  his  early  years,  was 
a  typical  New  England  farm,  having  "  low  green  mead 
ows,  picturesque  with  wooded  islands  "; 2  upland  pastures, 
with  the  huckleberry  bushes  and  old  gray  rocks  so  dear 
to  the  memory  of  every  New  Englander;  and  "a  small 
brook,  noisy  enough  as  it  foamed,  rippled,  and  laughed 
down  its  rocky  falls."2  He  thus  came  naturally  by  his 
distinction  as  the  poet  of  rural  New  England.  New 
England  was  born  in  his  blood,  breathed  in  with  every 
breath  of  his  childhood  and  youth.3  His  health  being 
delicate,  only  the  lighter  kinds  of  farm  work  were  re 
quired  of  him,  and  he  had  the  more  time  for  indulging 
his  strong  taste  for  books.  The  thirty  odd  volumes  in 
his  home  were  read  and  re-read.  When  he  was  but  a 
lad  of  fourteen,  the  loan  of  Burns' s  poems  set  the  Ameri 
can  Burns  to  writing  verses  too.4  About  the  same  time 

1  Pickard's  life  of  Whittier,  Vol.  I.,  p.  12. 

2  Whittier,  in  The  Fish  I  didn't  Catch. 

3  From  his  uncle  Moses,  a  man  "  wise  in  the  traditions  of  the  family 
and  neighborhood,"  he  heard,  "  as  they  worked  together  in  the  fields, 
or  sat  by  the  evening  fireside,  .  .  .  marvelous  stories  of  the  denizens  of 
the  forest  and  stream,  traditions  of  witchcraft,  and  tales  of  strange  hap 
penings." —  Pickard,  Vol.  I.,  p.  32. 

4  "  It  is  a  tradition  that  his  first  verses  were  written  upon  the  beam  of 
his   mother's   loom."      "  His  schoolmates  say  he  was  in  the  habit  of 


23o      THE    LITERATURE    FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

he  bought  Shakspere's  plays,  and  a  Waverley  novel  fell 
into  his  hands,  the  latter  being  read  in  secret  for  fear 
that  his  parents  would  disapprove.  Whittier's  father,  the 
practical,  laconic  man  portrayed  in  Snow-Bound,  dis 
couraged  his  literary  tendencies,  but  his  mother  secretly 
rejoiced  over  them,  and  his  sister  Mary  openly  encour 
aged  them.  The  sending  of  some  of  his  poems  to 
Garrison's  Newburyport  newspaper,  The  Free  Press? 
led  the  editor  to  ride  over  to  Haverhill  to  see  the  young 
poet,  whom  he  urged  to  pursue  his  studies  farther.  To 
earn  money  for  a  half-year's  expenses  at  the  academy, 
Whittier  worked  all  winter  making  slippers.2  With 
another  half-year  at  the  academy  his  scholastic  training 
ended.  But,  as  his  biographer  says,  this  "was  only  the 
beginning  of  his  student  life;  by  wide  and  well-chosen 
reading  he  was  constantly  adding  to  his  stores  of  in 
formation;  while  revelling  in  the  fields  of  English  lit 
erature,  he  became  familiar  through  translations  with 
ancient  and  current  literature  of  other  nations,  and  kept 
abreast  of  all  political  and  reformatory  movements."' 
He  was  a  lover  of  books,  and  from  the  study  in  the 
house  at  Amesbury  his  "constantly  increasing  library 
.  .  .  overflowed  into  nearly  all  the  rooms."4 

covering  his  slate  with  rhymes,  which  were  passed  about  from  desk  to 
desk." —  Pickard,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  45,  46. 

1  The  first  of  Whittier's  poems  which  appeared  in  it,  in  1826,  was 
sent  secretly  by  this  admirable  sister  Mary.     "  The  paper  came  to  him 
when  he  was  .  .  .  mending  a  stone  wall  by  the  roadside.  .  .  .     His  heart 
stood  still  a  moment  when  he  saw  his  own  verses.  .  .  .     He  has  said  he 
was  sure  that  he  did  not  read  a  word  of  the  poem  all  the  time  he  looked 
at  it."  —  Pickard,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  50,  51. 

2  "  He  received  but  eight  cents  a  pair  for  his  work.  .  .  .     He  calcu 
lated  so  closely  every  item  of  expense  that  he  knew  before  the  begin 
ning  of  the  term  that  he  would  have  twenty-five  cents  to  spare  at  its 
close,  and  he  actually  had."  —  Pickard,  Vol.  1.,  p.  54. 

3  Pickard   Vol.  I.,  p.  72.  4  /^M  Vol.  I.,  p.  160. 


JOHN   GREENLEAF   WHITTIER.  231 

It  has  been  generally  forgotten  or  unknown  that  during 
the  first  few  years  of  his  manhood,  although  his  interest 
in  literature  was  deep  and  persistent,  and  hardly 
a  week  passed  without  the  publication  of  a  new 
poem,  Whittier  was  chiefly  occupied  with  politics,  and 
had  strong  political  ambition.  He  edited  very  ably 
several  party  newspapers,1  and  he  early  discovered 
much  skill  as  a  practical  politician.  His  frail  health 
greatly  hampered  him,  but  what  took  him  permanently 
out  of  the  race  for  political  honors  was  his  espousal 
of  the  anti-slavery  cause.  He  made  the  sacrifice 
deliberately,  after  a  careful  study  of  the  whole  ques 
tion,  and  without  the  shallow  optimism  which  allowed 
many  abolitionists  to  expect  speedy  success.  He 
became  the  poet  of  the  anti-slavery  cause.  But  he  also 
aided  it  in  many  other  ways,  participating  in  party  con 
ventions,  giving  wise  counsel  to  the  more  conspicuous 
leaders,  and  doing  a  vast  amount  of  effective  editorial 
work  through  many  gloomy  years.2  Although  the 
Quaker  poet's  inherited  abhorrence  of  slavery  was  in- 

1  The  New  England  Review  was  the  leading  Whig  organ  in  Con 
necticut. 

2  "  He  took  men  as  he  found  them,  encouraged  them  to  go  part  way 
with  him.     '  Has  thee  found  many  saints  or  angels  in  thy  dealings  with 
either  political  party  ?     Do  not  expect  too  much  of  human  nature.'    He 
had  a  genius  for  coalitions,  and  could  accept  assistance  from  unfriendly 
sources.  ...     He  contributed  [largely]  to  the  election  of  Charles  Sum- 
ner  to  the  United  States  Senate,  by  holding  the  anti-slavery  vote  to  a 
coalition  distasteful  to  many  of  his  followers,  which  gave  to  pro-slavery 
Democrats  the  governorship  of  Massachusetts  and  the  principal  state 
offices.  .  .  .     His  was  a  familiar  form  in  the  lobby  of  the  State  House 
for  many  years.     He  was  a  shrewd  judge  of  men,  knew  how  to  touch 
their  weak  points,  and  scrupled  not  to  reach  their  consciences  along  the 
line  of  least  resistance.  .  .  .     His  keen  sense  of  the  ridiculous  kept  him 
from  being  in  the  least  degree  '  cranky '  in  his  philanthropy."  —  Pickard, 
Vol.  I.,  p.  ooo. 


232      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

tense,  his  quarrel  was  with  the  system,  not  with  indi 
viduals;  "all  his  life  he  numbered  among  his  personal 
friends,  not  only  apologists  for  slavery,  but  slaveholders 
themselves."1  His  labors  on  behalf  of  liberty  taxed 
his  feeble  strength,  and  left  little  leisure  or  energy  for 
purely  literary  work  until  near  the  end  of  the  great  con 
test.  Most  of  the  time  he  lived  quietly  upon  his  little 
estate  at  Amesbury,  enjoying  the  friendship  of  many 
distinguished  men,  and  deeply  happy  for  many  years  in 
the  companionship  of  his  mother  and  his  favorite  sister 
Elizabeth.2  In  the  last  third  of  his  life  the  sale  of  his 
poems  banished  all  pecuniary  care,3  and  the  saintly  old 
man  made  his  prolonged  descent  into  the  vale  of  years 
in  perfect  peace.  The  celebration  on  his  seventieth 
birthday,  and  again  on  his  eightieth,  eloquently  testified 
how  highly  his  countrymen  esteemed  the  man  and  the 
poet.  But,  in  spite  of  all,  his  solitude  was  deep. 
"Almost  painful,"  wrote  Elizabeth  Phelps  Ward,  "is 
the  picture  which  my  heart  carries  of  his  patient  and 

1  Pickard,  Vol.  II.,  p.  502. 

2  His  mother  died  in  1857 ;  his  sister,  in  1864.     When  asked  why  he 
had  never  married,  he  wrote:  "Circumstances — the  care  of  an  aged 
mother,  and  the  duty  owed  to  a  sister  in  delicate  health  for  many  years 
—  must  be  my  excuse  for  living  the  lonely  life  which  has  called  out  thy 

pity I  know  there  has  something  very  sweet  and  beautiful  been  missed, 

but  I  have  no  reason  to  complain."  —  Pickard,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  276,  277. 
Mr.  Pickard  says  (p.  276)  :    "  The  poem   [Memories}    was  written  in 
1841,  and  although  the  romance  it  embalms  lies  far  back  of  this  date, 
possibly  there  is  a  heart  still  beating  which  fully  understands  its  mean 
ing.     The  biographer  can  do  no  more  than  make  this  suggestion,  which 
has  the  sanction  of  the  poet's  explicit  word."     He  hints  that  the  love 
"  had  been  sacrificed  to  adverse  circumstances." 

3  Whittier  got  $10,000  from  the  sale  of  the  first  edition  of  Snow- 
Bound.     Of  The  Tent  on  the  Beach  20,000  copies  were  sold  at  the  rate 
of  about  loco  daily ;  the  poet  thereupon  wrote  to  his  publisher,  with 
characteristic  modesty  and  humor,  "  This  will  never  do ;  the  swindle  is 
awful ;  Barnum  is  a  saint  to  us."  —  Pickard,  Vol.  II.,  p.  512. 


JOHN   GREENLEAF   WHITTIER.  233 

cheerful  but  heavy  loneliness.  ...  He  seemed  to 
me,  beloved,  nay,  adored,  as  he  was,  and  affectionately 
cared  for,  one  of  the  loneliest  men  I  ever  knew."1 
From  year  to  year  he  grew  feebler.  At  last  came  a 
shock  of  paralysis,  and  he  died  peacefully  in  sleep. 

"He  was  a  very  handsome,  distinguished-looking 
young  man,"  wrote  a  lifelong  friend.  "He  was  tall, 
slight,  and  very  erect;  a  bashful  youth,  but  never 
awkward.  .  .  .  With  intimate  friends  he  talked  a  great 
deal,  and  in  a  wonderfully  interesting  manner.  .  .  . 
He  had  a  great  deal  of  wit  .  .  .  and  a  marvellous 
store  of  information  on  many  subjects."2  Whittier 
was  a  very  gentle  man,  but  "it  would  be  a  mistake," 
says  his  biographer,  "to  suppose  that  gentleness  was 
a  necessity  of  his  nature;  it  was  in  reality  the  result 
of  resolute  self-control  and  the  habitual  government  of 
a  tempestuous  spirit."3  But  his  spirit  was  also  naturally 
loving,  magnanimous,  and  sweet.  Of  his  smile  a  friend 
said :  "  It  is  one  of  the  sweetest  smiles  ever  seen  on  the 
face  of  a  man.  ...  In  repose  his  face  is  almost  stern, 
but  when  anything  amuses  him  you  see  a  light  dance  for 
an  instant  in  his  eyes,  and  then  seem  slowly  to  expand 
over  his  face,  as  a  circling  wave  expands  upon  the  sur 
face  of  a  placid  pool.  ...  He  smiles  frequently,  too, 
for  he  is  always  awake  to  the  humorous  side  of  things, 
and  you  cannot  entertain  him  in  any  way  more  certainly 
than  by  telling  him  bright,  witty  stories."4  On  his  jus 
tice,  his  generosity,  his  tenderness,  his  virgin  purity  of 
soul,  his  childlike  yet  profound  trust  in  God,  there  is 

1  The  Century  Magazine^  January,  1893. 

2  Mrs.  Harriet  M.  Pitman,  as  quoted  in  Pickard,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  58,  59. 

3  Pickard,  Vol.  II.,  p.  551.  4  Ibid.,  Vol.  II.,  p.  556. 


234      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

no  need  to  dwell,  for  they  envelop  his  pages  like  an 
atmosphere. 

Whittier's  earliest  verses  show  that  he  was,  as  he  him 
self  has  said,  "a  dreamer  born,"  and  that  it  was  at  some 
personal  sacrifice  that,  in  his  anti-slavery  poems,  he 

.  .  .  left  the  Muses'  haunts  to  turn 
The  crank  of  an  opinion-mill, 
Making  his  rustic  reed  of  song 
A  weapon  in  the  war  with  wrong.1 

The  Indian  poems,  Mogg  Megone  and  The  Bridal  of 
Penacook,  are  failures  however,  the  first  shipwrecking 
on  the  Scylla  of  repulsive  realism  and  the  second  on  the 
Charybdis  of  a  false  idealism.2  But  Cassandra  South- 
wick  and  The  Exiles  axe  promising  for  their  imaginative 
and  truthful  handling  of  themes  from  colonial  history. 

Voices  of  Freedom,  and  the  other  poems  on  slavery, 
are  noble  as  morals  and  often  admirable  as  impassioned 
rhetoric;  but  as  poetry  they  are  mostly  naught,  abound 
ing  in  such  lines  as 

New  Hampshire  thunders  an  indignant  No  !  3 

Too  much  is  made,  also,  of  the  merely  physical  suffer 
ings  of  the  slave,  whose  "chains"  are  always  "clank 
ing,"  while 

The  driver  plies  his  reeking  thong.4 

And  the  tender-hearted  philanthropist,  not  the  far-seeing 
statesman,  speaks  in  the  occasional  passages  which  show 
that  Whittier,  like  his  fellow-abolitionists,  underesti 
mated  the  importance  of  preserving  the  Union  as  the 
only  sufficient  guarantee  of  liberty  and  the  advance  of 

1  The  Tent  on  the  Beach.       '•*  Cf.  what  is  said  about  Hiawatha,  p.  187. 
3  New  Hampshire.  4  The  World's  Convention. 


JOHN   GREENLEAF   WHITTIER.  235 

civilization  in  the  New  World.1  But  after  all  deductions 
have  been  made,  every  true  Anglo-Saxon  must  rejoice 
that  these  poems  were  written,  and  the  American  may  be 
proud  that  they  were  written  by  a  fellow-countryman. 
They  blaze  and  thrill  with  magnificent  passion  for  per 
sonal  liberty  and  withering  scorn  for  the  coward  and 
knave.  Some  of  them,  as  Massachusetts  to  Virginia  and 
To  Faneuil  Hall,  are  superb  pieces  of  defiant  declama 
tion  at  a  time  when  "doughfaces"  abounded  in  the 
North.  A  few,  as  The  Slave-Ships,  The  Farewell  of  a 
Virginia  Slave  Mother,  and  The  Slaves  of  Martinique, 
have  considerable  imagination,  beauty,  and  pathos. 
Randolph  of  Roanoke  is  an  example  of  Whittier's  shrewd 
yet  magnanimous  estimate  of  men.  Ichabod  is  the  more 
terrible  as  an  arraignment  because  of  its  restraint  and  its 
dirge-like  mourning  for  a  great  leader  once  revered  and 
loved.2  Songs  of  Labor  and  the  poems  entitled  In  War 
Time  have,  as  a  whole,  small  merit  of  any  sort;  but  one 
of  the  latter,  Barbara  Frietchie,  whatever  its  historical 
accuracy,  is  admirable  for  its  ballad-like  simplicity  and 
directness,  and  its  thrill  of  patriotic  heroism. 

Most  of  the  poems  which  have  given  Whittier  a  high 
place  in  American  literature  were  written  during  the 
second  and  more  tranquil  half  of  his  life,  when  ill 
health  made  him  less  active  in  the  cause  of  reform,  or, 
the  great  conflict  ended,  he  felt  wholly  free  to  let 

Old,  harsh  voices  of  debate 
Flow  into  rhythmic  song.3 

1  See  Texas. 

2  It  is  said  that  Webster  was  more  deeply  cut  by  it  than  by  any  other 
of  the  criticisms  hurled  at  him  for  his  famous  Seventh  of  March  speech. 
See  The  Lost  Occasion  for  Whittier's  later  and  milder  view  of  the  fallen 
idol.  8  My  Birthday. 


236      THE   LITERATURE    FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

His  gift  for  historical  ballads,  in  which  he  has  no  rival 
among  American  poets,  showed  itself  in  The  Witch's 
Daughter,  Skipper  Ireson's  Ride,  The  Pipes  at  Luck  now, 
How  the  Women  Went  from  Dover,  and  other  poems, 
that  combine  historic  truth  of  fact  and  atmosphere  with 
imaginative  interest  and  much  of  the  freshness  and  easy 
swing  of  style  and  verse  that  characterize  the  old  ballads. 
There  is  no  better  introduction  to  certain  phases  of 
early  New  England  history  than  some  of  these  unpre 
tentious  poems.  The  same  rare  qualities  of  simplicity, 
and  a  freshness  as  of  the  woods  and  fields,  appear  in  the 
ballad  of  Maud  Muller,  so  full  of  the  breath  of  meadows 
and  the  pathos  of  everyday  life,  with  the  fetters  imposed 
by  custom  and  social  cares  upon  poor  and  rich  alike. 
Whittier's  gift  for  the  ballad  form  reached  its  highest 
expression  in  Telling  the  Bees,  the  most  exquisite  of  all 
his  poems  and  unequalled  among  American  ballads  for 
its  union  of  spontaneity  with  finish,  homely  but  beautiful 
descriptive  setting,  and  the  very  soul  of  delicate  love- 
pathos.  The  Barefoot  Boy  and  In  School- Days  are 
hardly  less  exquisite,  the  one  as  a  picture  of  a  New 
England  country  boy,  the  other  as  a  memory  of  the 
angelic  purity  and  tenderness  of  child-love  in  the  little 
old  "schoolhouse  by  the  road." 

Snow-Bound,  that  unique  idyl  of  New  England  country 
life  in  winter,  is,  on  the  whole,  Whittier's  greatest  and 
most  characteristic  poem.  Nearly  all  his  previous  life 
had  been  an  unconscious  preparation  for  it,  and  his  an 
cestors  had  a  hand  in  it  before  he  was  born.  It  could  have 
been  written  only  by  one  bred  on  a  New  England  farm,  in 
whose  veins  ran  blood  drawn  from  the  best  New  England 
stock,  and  to  whom  the  intellectual,  moral,  and  spiritual 


JOHN   GREENLEAF   WHITTIER.  237 

atmosphere  of  New  England  was  his  native  element.  As 
the  literary  expression  of  New  England  rural  life  it  has  no 
rival,  and  richly  deserves  its  position  as  one  of  the  few 
American  classics.  It  is  by  no  means  faultless.  Lame 
rhythms,  defective  rhymes,  and  an  awkward  or  obscure 
order  of  words  occasionally  annoy  the  fastidious  reader; 
the  grouping  of  the  figures  is  a  bit  stiff;  the  ending  is  be 
low  the  level  of  earlier  parts.  But  these  are  minor  faults, 
and  comparatively  harmless  in  a  homespun  poem  whose 
charm  does  not  depend  upon  external  polish.  Its  pictures 
are  very  vivid  and  distinctive,  its  character-sketches  life 
like  and  varied,  and  the  whole  is  permeated  with  a  tonic 
atmosphere  of  "plain  living  and  high  thinking." 

The  Tent  on  the  Beach,  Among  the  Hills,  The  Pennsyl 
vania  Pilgrim,  and  most  of  the  other  late  poems,  although 
they  show  the  skill  of  the  experienced  craftsman  and 
contain  beautiful  passages,  never  reach  a  high  level, 
while  much  is  manifestly  the  work  of  an  old  man.  One 
other  class  of  Whittier's  poems,  however,  deserve  special 
mention,  —  the  religious  poems.  There  was  more  of 
the  Hebrew  in  him  than  in  any  other  American  poet, 
more  of  that  spirit  of  lofty  and  fervid  devotion  charac 
teristic  of  ancient  psalmist  and  prophet.  This  Hebraistic 
element,  which  so  easily  errs  on  the  side  of  fanaticism 
and  dogmatic  insistence  upon  creed,  was  in  his  case 
happily  tempered  by  the  intellectual  breadth  and  the 
sweet  charity  which  were  a  part  of  his  Quaker  heritage. 
Orthodox  and  heterodox  alike  accept  The  Vaudois 
Teacher,  Trinitas,  Our  Master,  and  The  Eternal  Good 
ness  as  beautiful  expressions  of  the  spirit  of  "pure 
religion  and  tmdefiled."  In  a  few  poems,  notably  in 
The  Meeting,  the  distinctive  tenets  of  Quakerism  are 


238      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

presented  loyally,  but  in  a  manner  void  of  offence. 
Still  others,  such  as. My  Soul  and  I,  Questions  of  Life, 
The  Shadow  and  the  Light,  and  Adjustment,  show  that 
VVhittier  did  not  escape  the  spirit  of  the  age,  but  that 
the  mysteries  of  life  weighed  upon  him  heavily  and  that 
he  attained  to  faith  and  calm  only  through  struggle.  He 
was  no  metaphysician,  but  neither  was  he  a  mere  blind 
devotee;  he  looked  intellectual  difficulties  squarely  in 
the  face,  admitted  his  inability  to  read  the  darkest  of 
the  riddles,  and  resigned  himself  to  a  large  trust  in  the 
goodness  of  the  Eternal. 

Whittier's  prose  works,  which  fill  three  volumes,  have 
little  value  now  except  as  means  to  a  better  knowledge 
of  the  man.  They  comprise  papers  on  slavery  and  other 
political  topics,  tales  and  sketches,  and  a  few  literary 
criticisms.  The  most  noteworthy  are  Justice  and  Ex 
pediency,  the  poet's  first  pamphlet  upon  abolition,  in 
which  cold  facts  and  calm  logic  combine  with  fiery  zeal 
against  a  great  wrong,  and  Margaret  Smiths  Journal, 
containing  a  vivid  and  truthful  picture  of  life  in  New 
England  in  1678-1679. 

It  is  evident  that  New  England's  homespun  poet,  who 
knew  and  loved  the  old  masters  of  English  song,  was 
keenly  aware  that  he  could  not  equal  their  sweetest  music 
nor  their  highest  flights.1  But  it  was  quite  consistent 
with  his  rare  modesty  to  know  also  that  his  homeliness 
was  his  strength.  He  was  far  from  illiterate.  Burns 
first  set  him  to  singing,  and  the  influence  of  the  old 
English  ballads  and  of  the  modern  romantic  poets,  Scott 
in  particular,  is  noticeable  in  his  verse.  But  he  was 
not  bookish  in  the  same  sense  that  Longfellow  was.  His 

1  See  Proem. 


JAMES    RUSSELL   LOWELL.  239 

best  poems  sprang  directly  from  close  contact  with  nature 
and  human  life;  they  passed  through  his  library,  but 
never  originated  there.  It  is  this  wild-flower  odor,  this 
sense  of  the  rocky  hillside  pasture  and  of  the  river 
flowing  by  the  old  farm,  this  outdoor  knowledge  of  boy 
and  man  and  woman  in  his  native  village,  that  give 
Whittier's  lines  their  distinctive  and  enduring  charm. 
We  feel  that  this  man  has  not  chiefly  read,  but  has  lived, 
and  that  he  has  put  into  living  words  much  that  was 
most  beautiful,  picturesque,  and  noble  in  the  New  Eng 
land  of  his  youth. 

JAMES  RUSSELL  LOWELL  l  was  descended  from  Percival 
Lowell,  a  Bristol  merchant,  who  came  to  Massachusetts 
in  1639.  His  grandfather,  John  Lowell,  was  a  member 
of  the  Continental  Congress  and  chief  justice  of  the 
First  United  States  Circuit  Court.  His  father,  Rev. 

1  LIFE.  Born  in  Cambridge,  Mass.,  Feb.  22, 1819.  Attended  a  local 
boarding-school ;  in  Harvard  College,  1834-1838 ;  received  degree  of 
B.L.  from  Harvard  Law  School,  1840.  Practised  law  and  wrote  for 
the  magazines,  1840-1844;  started  The  Pioneer  magazine,  1843.  Mar 
ried  Maria  White,  1844;  four  children,  only  one  of  whom  survived 
childhood,  were  born  to  him.  Regular  contributor  to  The  Anti-Slavery 
Standard,  1846-1850.  In  Europe,  1851-1852.  Wife  died,  1853.  Lec 
tured  before  the  Lowell  Institute,  1855.  Appointed  Professor  of  French 
and  Spanish  Languages  and  Literatures,  and  Belles-Lettres,  in  Harvard 
College,  1855.  In  Europe,  1855-1856.  Professor  at  Harvard,  1856- 
1877.  Married  Frances  Dunlap,  1857.  Edited  The  Atlantic  Monthly, 
1857-1861;  an  editor  of  The  North  American  Review,  1863-1872.  In 
Europe,  1872-1874.  Received  degree  of  D.C.L.  from  Oxford  Univer 
sity,  1873.  Minister  to  Spain,  1877-1880;  visited  Greece  and  Turkey, 
1878;  Minister  to  England,  1880-1885;  received  degree  of  LL.D.  from 
Harvard  College,  1884 ;  wife  died,  1885.  In  America,  at  Southborough, 
Mass.,  and  Boston,  with  frequent  short  trips  to  England,  1885-1889; 
in  Cambridge,  Mass.,  1889-1891.  Died  in  Cambridge,  Aug.  12,  1891. 
A  Unitarian. 

WORKS.  Class  Poem,  1838.  A  Year's  Life,  1841.  Poems,  1844. 
Conversations  on  Some  of  the  Old  Poets,  1845.  The  Vision  of  Sir 
Launfal,  1845.  Poems,  1848.  A  Fable  for  Critics,  1848.  The  Biglow 


240      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

Charles  Lowell,  for  many  years  pastor  of  a  Unitarian 
church  in  Boston,  was  a  man  of  more  than  usual  literary 
culture.  From  his  mother,  who  came  of  an  old  Orkney 
family,  the  poet  "believed  himself  to  have  inherited  his 
love  of  nature  and  his  poetic  temperament."1  In  this 
cultured  Christian  home  the  boy  grew  up  into  all  that 
was  noble,  manly,  and  refined.  He  was  a  thoroughly 
healthy  boy,  not  too  fond  of  the  schoolroom,  although  a 
good  scholar.2  At  college  Lowell  was  popular,  and  he 
enjoyed  his  life  there.  His  taste  for  books,  and  for 
good  editions,  grew  apace.  He  read  widely,  wrote 
poetry,  and  fell  in  love.  His  letters  at  this  period  show 
him  as  a  somewhat  callow  youth,  but  brimful  of  intellect, 
literary  sense,  humor,  and  good  spirits.  For  neglect  of 
the  routine  studies  he  was  "rusticated"  in  his  senior 
year,  and  spent  several  months  in  Concord,  studying 
under  the  clergyman  there;  his  class-day  poem  had 


Papers,  First  Series,  1848  (appeared  first  in  the  Boston  Courier,  1846- 
1848)  ;  Second  Series,  1867  (appeared  first  in  The  Atlantic  Monthly, 
1862-1866).  Poems,  1849.  Fireside  Travels,  1864.  Commemoration 
Ode,  1865.  Poetical  Works,  1869.  Under  the  Willows,  1869.  The 
Cathedral,  1869.  Among  My  Books,  First  Series,  1870;  Second  Series, 
1876.  My  Study  Windows,  1871.  Three  Memorial  Poems,  1876. 
Democracy  and  Other  Addresses,  1887.  Heartsease  and  Rue,  1888. 
Political  Essays,  1888.  Latest  Literary  Essays  and  Addresses,  1892. 
The  Old  English  Dramatists,  1892  (delivered  before  the  Lowell  Insti 
tute,  1887).  Letters,  1893. 

1  C.  E.  Norton,  in  his  edition  of  Lowell's  letters,  Vol.  I.,  p.  2. 

2  His  early  letters,  while  delightfully  boyish,  anticipate  some  of  the 
qualities  of  the  man :     "  My  Dear  Brother,  —  I  am  now  going  to  tell 
you  melancholy  news.     I  have  got  the  ague  together  with  a  gumbile.  .  .  . 
The  boys  are  all  very  well  except  Nemaise,  who  has  got  another  piece 
of  glass  in  his  leg.  ...     I  have  got  quite  a  library.     The  Master  has 
not  taken  his  rattan  out  since  the  vacation.     Your  little  kitten  is  as  well 
and  as  playful  as  ever  and  I  hope  you  are  to  for  I  am  sure  I  love  you  as 
well  as  ever.     Why  is  grass  like  a  mouse  you  cant  guess  that  he  he  he 
ho  ho  ho  ha  ha  ha  hum  hum  hum."  —  Letter,  Nov.  2,  1828. 


JAMES    RUSSELL   LOWELL.  241 

therefore  to  be  delivered  by  another.  For  the  next  few 
years  Lowell  wavered  between  law  and  literature.  He 
learned  enough  law  to  get  admitted  to  the  bar,  but  he 
never  had  much  practice;  and  as  soon  as  he  was  able  to 
make  a  scanty  living  by  writing  for  periodicals,  he  for 
sook  the  courts  of  justice  for  the  courts  of  the  Muses. 
His  first  wife,  herself  a  poetess,  was  admirably  adapted 
to  be  his  companion,  and  Lowell's  life  was  for  many 
years  a  very  happy  one  in  spite  of  straitened  means 
and  the  death  of  several  children.  His  first  trip  abroad 
was  made  chiefly  for  the  benefit  of  Mrs.  Lowell's  health; 
but  the  death  of  their  infant  son,  in  Rome,  was  a  blow 
from  which  she  never  really  recovered.  Her  death,  a 
year  later,  left  the  poet  a  very  lonely  man;  but  "his 
temperament  was  too  healthy,  his  character  too  strong, 
to  allow  him  to  give  way  to  despair;  ...  he  sought 
distraction  in  work."  His  lectures  on  the  English 
poets,  before  the  Lowell  Institute,  were  very  popular 
and  greatly  increased  his  reputation,  and  he  naturally 
became  Longfellow's  successor  in  the  professorship  of 
belles-lettres  at  Harvard. 

Lowell  was  now  able  to  devote  himself  in  peace  of 
mind  to  the  literary  and  scholarly  pursuits  in  which  he 
most  delighted,  although  his  interest  in  the  anti-slavery 
cause,  and  in  political  matters  generally,  was  still  strong. 
His  second  marriage  to  a  talented  woman  renewed  his 
domestic  happiness;  and  for  many  years  his  life  at 
"Elmwood,"  the  ancestral  residence  in  Cambridge,  a 

1  "  I  do  abhor  sentimentality  from  the  bottom  of  my  soul,  and  can 
not  wear  my  grief  upon  my  sleeves,  but  yet  I  look  forward  with  agony 
to  the  time  when  she   may  become  a  memory  instead  of  a  constant 
presence."  —  Letter,  Nov.  25,  1853. 

2  C.  E.  Norton,  in  his  edition  of  Lowell's  letters,  Vol.  I.,  p.  204. 


242      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

spacious  colonial  house  pleasantly  situated  within  sight 
of  the  river  Charles,  was  almost  the  ideal  life  of  the  man 
of  letters.  As  a  teacher  he  was  unconventional,  unique, 
vital.1  But  the  routine  wore  on  him.2  The  preparation 
of  lectures  and  the  editorship  of  two  magazines  still 
further  developed  his  critical  powers  at  the  expense  of 
his  poetical.  But  Lowell  was  by  nature  a  student  and 
critic  as  well  as  poet;  and  probably  the  things  of  the 
intellect  would  have  filled  a  larger  and  larger  place  in 
his  life  as  youth  gave  way  to  middle  age,  whatever  his 
daily  pursuits  had  been.3  Lowell,  however,  was  not 
only  a  poet  and  scholar;  he  was  also  a  man  of  the  world, 

1  "  Now  and  again,  some  word  or  some  passage  would  suggest  to 
him  a  line  of  thought  —  sometimes  very  earnest,  sometimes  paradoxi 
cally  comical  —  that  it  would  never  have  suggested  to  any  one  else. 
And  he  would  lean  back  in  his  chair,  and  talk  away  across  country  till 
he  felt  like  stopping;  or  he  would  thrust  his  hands  into  the  pockets  of 
his  rather  shabby  sack-coat,  and  pace  the  end  of  the  room  with  his  heavy 
laced  boots,  and  look  at  nothing  in  particular,  and  discourse  of  things 
in  general.     We  gave  up  note-books  in  a  week."     "  In  a  month  I  could 
read  Dante  better  than  I  ever  learned  to  read  Greek  or  Latin  or  Ger 
man." —  Professor  Barrett  Wendell,  in  Stelligeri,  p.  207. 

2  In  1874,  while  in  Europe,  he  wrote,  "  My  being  a  professor  wasn't 
good  for  me  —  it  damped  my  gunpowder.  ...     If  I  were  a  profane 
man,  I  should  say,  '  Darn  the  College ! '  " 

3  "  I  have  been  at  work,  ...  in  making  books  that  I  had  read  and 
marked  really  useful  by  indexes  of  all  peculiar  words  and  locutions. 
...     I  have  been  reading  many  volumes  of  the  Early  English  Text 
Society's  series  in  the  same  thorough  way.  ...     I  have  now  reached 
the  point  where  I  feel  sure  enough  of  myself  in  Old  French  and  Old 
English  to  make  my  corrections  with  a  pen  instead  of  a  pencil  as  I  go 
along.     Ten  hours  a  day,  on  an  average,  I  have  been  at  it  for  the  last 
two  months,  and  get  so  absorbed  that  I  turn  grudgingly  to  anything 
e]Se."  —  Letter,  Sept.  19,  1874.    "  All  around  us  [in  Lowell's  study]  were 
the  crowded  book-shelves,  whose  appearance  showed  them  to  be  the 
companions  of  the  true  literary  workman.  .  .  .     Their  ragged  bindings, 
and  thumbed  pages  scored  with   frequent   pencil-marks,  implied   that 
they  were  a  student's  tools.  ...     He  would  sit  among  his  books,  pipe 
in  mouth,  a  book  in  hand,  hour  after  hour."  —  Leslie  Stephen,  in  Nor 
ton's  edition  of  Lowell's  letters,  Vol.  I.,  p.  408. 


JAMES    RUSSELL   LOWELL.  243 

and  he  was  deeply  interested  in  the  problems  of  govern 
ment  under  a  republic.  Believing  profoundly,  though 
not  blindly,  in  democracy,  he  was  a  severe  and  trenchant 
critic  of  the  attitude  taken  by  the  upper  classes  of  Eng 
land  during  our  Civil  War,  for  his  Americanism,  however 
courteous,  was  always  self-poised  and  sometimes  aggres 
sive.1  In  England  he  would  probably  have  become  a 
scholar-statesman,  like  John  Morley  ;  in  America  his 
only  chance  in  political  life  was  as  foreign  minister; 
'and  as  he  had  succeeded  Longfellow  in  the  professor's 
chair,  so  he  fittingly  became  the  successor  of  Irving  at 
the  court  of  Spain.  His  transference  to  Westminster 
proved  to  be  one  of  the  fortunate  incidents  which  have 
helped  to  draw  England  and  the  United  States  closer 
together  in  recent  years.  During  his  brilliant  term  of 
service,  our  foremost  man  of  letters  furnished  an  example 
of  the  ideal  attitude  for  the  whole  nation,  an  atti 
tude  of  broad-minded  love  for  "Our  Old  Home"  with 
entire  self-respect  and  stanch  independence.  After  re 
turning  to  this  country,  Lowell  became  a  healthful  in 
fluence  in  our  domestic  politics  by  promoting  political 
activity  on  the  part  of  men  of  high  intellect  and  char 
acter.  But  his  own  days  of  action  were  nearly  spent. 
The  death  of  his  wife  and  the  infirmities  of  age  made 
his  last  years  lonely  and  sometimes  painful.  He  retained 
his  intellect  and  courage  and  youth  of  spirit  to  the  end, 
however,  and  his  last  published  letter  is  as  witty  and 

1  See  his  letters,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  409-412,  for  Leslie  Stephen's  experience. 
From  amidst  the  splendors  of  the  Spanish  court  he  writes  in  1878  :  "  But 
to  me,  I  confess,  it  is  all  vanity  and  vexation  of  spirit.  I  like  America 
better  every  day."  In  his  last  years  he  loved  English  life  very  much, 
and  found  European  civilization  more  interesting  than  American ;  but 
his  profound  faith  in  his  country  never  died. 


244      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

lovable  as  any.1     But  his  work  was  done;  he  was  only 
waiting  for  the  end,  nor  did  he  wait  long. 

Lowell's  early  poems  show  clearly  the  influence  of  his 
reading  in  the  English  poets.  The  accent  of  Tennyson 
is  unmistakable  in  The  Sirens,  Irene,  Rosaline,  Colum 
bus,  and  others.2  To  Perdita  Singing  and  Prometheus 
would  never  have  been  written  but  for  Shelley's  lyrics 
and  Prometheus  Unbound.  Rhodcus  has  much  of  Lan- 
dor's  manner,  different  as  the  poem  is  from  the  latter 's 
less  didactic  Hamadryad  on  the  same  Greek  legend.  A 
Legend  of  Brittany  combines  Keats' s  adoring  love  of 
sensuous  beauty  with  something  of  Chaucer's  simplicity 
and  naive  pathos  in  narration.  The  Ode  to  France  was 
evidently  modelled,  consciously  or  unconsciously,  upon 
Coleridge's  similar  ode.  The  nature  poems  would  not 
have  been  what  they  are  had  not  Wordsworth  and  Keats 
already  led  the  way.  All  this  is  not  to  say  that  Lowell 
was  a  mere  imitator  even  in  his  earlier  work.  From  the 
first  there  was  something  distinctive  in  his  tone  and 
atmosphere,  although  often  it  was  slight  and  hardly 
definable.  In  his  best  nature  poems,  early  and  late, 
—  such  as  An  Indian-Summer  Reverie,  To  the  Dandelion, 
the  preludes  in  The  Vision  of  Sir  Launfal  (so  superior  to 

1  "  If  I  have  not  written,  it  has  been  because  I  had  nothing  good  to 
say  of  myself.     I  have  been  very  wretched  with  one  thing  and  another. 
And  now  a  painful  sensation  is  taking  its  place.     I  could  crawl  about  a 
little  till  this  came,  and  now  my  chief  exercise  is  on  the  nightmare.     1 
can't  sleep  without  opium.  ...     I  thank  God  for  that  far-away  visit  of 
yours,  which  began  for  me  one  of  the  dearest  friendships  of  my  life.  .  .  . 
I  never  read  so  many  [novels]  before,  I  think,  in  my  life,  and  they  come 
to  me  as  fresh  as  the  fairy  tales  of  my  boyhood.  ...     All  your  friends 
here  are  well,  and  each  doing  good  in  his  several  way."  — Letter  to 
Leslie  Stephen,  June  21,  1891. 

2  Compare  the  above-named  especially  with  Tennyson's  Lotus  haters, 
Isabel,  Oriana,  and  Ulysses  respectively. 


JAMES    RUSSELL   LOWELL.  245 

the  rather  commonplace  narrative  parts),  Under  the  Wil 
lows,  and  Pictures  from  Appledore,  — he  unites  the  truth 
and  health  of  Wordsworth  with  the  flush  of  Keats,  some 
times  adding  a  playfulness  not  found  in  either.  Deeper 
and  more  passionate  than  Longfellow,  more  intellectual 
and  ideal  than  Whittier,  not  so  philosophical  as  Emer 
son  but  more  sensuous,  less  elemental  and  sublime  than 
Bryant  but  far  more  human  and  sunny,  Lowell  is,  on  the 
whole,  the  richest  and  most  satisfying  of  our  poets  of 
nature.  June,  in  particular,  was  made  for  this  poet, 
and  he  for  June.  Yet  the  earlier  poems,  as  a  whole,  are 
nevertheless  comparatively  imitative  and  "literary." 

But  keenly  sensitive  as  Lowell  was  to  English  literary 
influences,  he  was  also  intensely  alive  to  American  con-  - 
ditions  both  in  the  world  of  letters  and  in  the  world  of 
politics.  In  A  Fable  for  Critics  and  The  Biglow  Papers 
he  suddenly  revealed  powers  that  could  not  have  been 
divined  from  his  previous  work.  The  Fable  contains  a 
series  of  critical  judgments  upon  contemporary  Ameri 
can  literature  that  are,  as  a  rule,  surprisingly  accurate; 
and  its  torrent  of  puns  and  its  overflowing  energy  of 
good-natured  satire  are  still  enjoyable.  The  Biglow 
Papers  were  inspired  by  as  hearty  a  hatred  for  slavery  as 
burned  in  Whittier,  while  in  literary  sense,  dramatic 
power,  rollicking  humor,  and  use  of  the  racy  Yankee  dia 
lect,  they  are  quite  unrivalled  among  American  poems  on 
political  subjects.  It  must  be  confessed,  however,  that 
as  pure  literature  neither  series  has  altogether  held  its 
own.  The  humor  of  the  Rev.  Homer  Wilbur  sooner  or 
later  palls,  and  most  of  the  poems  are  overweighted  with 
the  details  of  contemporary  politics,  that  perennially 
interesting  bucolic  idyl,  The  Courtin\  only  emphasizing 


246      THE    LITERATURE    FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

this  defect  by  contrast.  Yet,  as  a  whole,  in  conception 
and  execution  The  Biglow  Papers  remain  Lowell's  raci 
est,  most  original,  and  most  distinctively  American  work 
in  verse.  Of  the  poems  grouped  together  as  "  Poems  of 
the  War,"  the  only  remarkable  one  is  the  Ode  Recited  at 
the  Harvard  Commemoration,  which  contains  the  best 
delineation,  in  verse,  of  the  character  of  Lincoln.  Under 
the  Old-  Elm,  similarly,  is  notable  chiefly  for  its  portrait 
of  Washington.  Both  odes  have  many  faulty  lines  and 
not  a  few  prosaic  passages,  but  their  general  effect  is 
noble,  and  they  are  still  our  best  examples  of  a  very 
difficult  species  of  poetical  composition.  A  very  differ 
ent  class  of  Lowell's  poems,  those  springing  from  inci 
dents  and  moods  in  his  personal  life,  have  a  peculiar 
charm,  for  they  bring  us  close  to  the  man  himself.  Some 
of  the  earlier  poems  of  this  sort,  as  The  Changeling, 
in  their  graceful  tenderness  remind  one  of  Longfellow. 
The  later,  such  as  The  Dead  House,  Ode  to  Happiness, 
A  Familiar  Epistle  to  a  Friend,  and  the  memorial  verses 
on  Agassiz,  are  more  distinctive,  often  uniting  deep  and 
subtle  thought  with  delightful  play  of  fancy  and  humor. 
The  longest  of  these  poems,  The  Cathedral,  is  the  finest 
expression,  in  American  verse,  of  the  spirit  of  modern 
religious  doubt  —  its  half-regret  for  the  loss  of  the 
mediaeval  faith,  its  intellectual  integrity  in  refusing  to 
delude  itself,  its  reverential  groping  toward  a  new  form 
of  faith  in  which  heart  and  brain  alike  may  find  rest. 
The  form  of  the  poem  is  hardly  worthy  of  its  substance, 
being  often  diffuse  and  occasionally  too  colloquial;  for 
its  thought,  however,  The  Cathedral  deserves  to  be  read 
along  with  the  similar  poems  of  Tennyson,  Arnold,  and 
Clough.  Lowell's  very  latest  verses,  all  too  few,  are  rich 


JAMES    RUSSELL   LOWELL.  247 

with  the   mellow  fruitage  of  an  intellectual  life  nobly 
lived,  but  add  nothing  distinctive  to  his  poetic  fame. 

The  prose  works  fall  into  three  classes:  literary  essays, 
essays  on  public  men  and  political  topics,  and  miscel 
laneous  essays.  The  literary  essays,  many  of  which  first 
existed  as  lectures,  are  the  most  numerous  and  most 
significant.  Lowell  had  very  exceptional  qualifications 
for  the  difficult  task  of  literary  criticism.  He  was  him 
self  a  poet,  yet  had  also  the  needful  prosaic  gifts  of 
common-sense  and  masculine  understanding;  his  literary 
sense  was  at  once  nice,  robust,  and  catholic;  he  was 
widely  read  in  many  literatures,  and  a  careful  student 
of  several;  without  a  trace  of  pedantry  he  had  those 
scholarly  instincts  for  lack  of  which  many  men  of  letters, 
so  delightful  as  companions,  are  so  untrustworthy  and 
sometimes  so  exasperating  as  guides;  he  knew  men  and 
the  world  as  well  as  books;  while  more  anxious  to  inter 
pret  than  to  flay,  he  could  use  the  knife  on  occasion; 
and  he  was  master  of  a  style  which,  although  far  from 
faultless,  often  sinning  by  jerkiness,  "smartness,"  and 
too  continual  emphasis,  is  eminently  readable  by  reason 
of  its  strength,  its  incisiveness,  its  sparkle  of  wit  and 
flash  of  sarcasm,  and  the  abounding  vitality  which  per 
vades  every  sentence  from  the  first  word  to  the  last.  The 
range  of  his  knowledge  and  the  breadth  of  his  sympathies 
are  remarkable.  His  essay  on  Dante  is  still  the  best 
general  introduction  to  the  study  of  the  great  poet  of  the 
Middle  Ages.  He  knew  the  profound  mind  of  Lessing. 
To  Rousseau  he  could  be  just,  in  spite  of  the  inborn 
dislike  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  for  certain  phases  of  the  Gal 
lic  mind  and  temperament.  He  was  equally  at  home  in 
discussing  the  technique  of  Milton's  blank  verse  or  the 


248      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

religious  ideas  of  Paradise  Lost.  He  was  able  to  say 
something  new  and  helpful  even  upon  Shakspere. 
Wordsworth  the  poet  he  revered,  but  "Daddy  Words 
worth  "  he  could  laugh  at.  Chaucer,  Spenser,  and  Keats 
were  brothers  to  his  soul,  yet  one  of  the  most  masterly 
of  his  essays  is  that  upon  the  masculine  and  intellectual 
Dryden;  and  if  his  sympathy  with  Pope  was  less  com 
plete,  he  nevertheless  showed  great  admiration  for 
the  wit  and  the  sting  of  the  "Wasp  of  Twickenham." 
Nearly  all  his  criticisms  have  the  rare  merit  of  increas 
ing  the  reader's  enjoyment  of  the  authors  discussed,  at 
the  same  time  that  they  broaden  his  knowledge  and 
sharpen  his  critical  sense.  As  to  Lowell's  historical 
position  in  literary  criticism,  the  words  of  a  living  Eng 
lish  scholar  have  special  weight:  "The  wide  dissemi 
nation  of  our  race  over  the  western  and  the  northern 
continents  is  raising  up  new  centres  of  culture,  which 
derive  their  tone  from  England,  which  provide  her  men 
of  letters  with  a  public  destined  to  become  more  ample 
than  Europe  could  afford  were  Europe  English,  and 
which  promises  to  afford  them,  at  no  distant  date,  all 
the  advantages  of  exterior  criticism  unwarped  by  having 
had  to  pass  through  a  foreign  medium.  ...  It  would 
almost  seem  that  while  superior  excellence  of  production 
may  long  remain  the  attribute  of  England,  the  decisive 
voice  in  criticism  may  pass  to  America.  .  .  .  The 
affluence  of  importation  [of  foreign  literature  into 
America]  .  .  .  fosters  that  width  of  view  and  freedom 
from  conventional  prejudice  which  distinguishes  Ameri 
can  judgment  in  literary  as  in  other  matters.  Americans 
far  surpass  us  English  in  the  prompt  recognition  of 
excellence.  .  .  .  Two  natural  and  inevitable  develop- 


JAMES    RUSSELL    LOWELL.  249 

ments  may  be  remarked  in  American  criticism.  There 
is,  first,  the  classical,  conservative,  cautious  school  of  the 
Irvings  and  Channings  and  Ticknors,  and  of  the  old 
North  American  Review  in  general;  a  school  consciously 
under  the  influence  of  the  old  country.  There  is  also 
a  younger  school  consciously  aiming  at  originality,  at 
evolving  a  national  type,  and  occupying  a  position  in 
criticism  akin  to  Bret  Harte's  in  production.  .  .  .  Mr. 
Russell  Lowell  is,  in  a  sense,  the  most  perfect  represen 
tative  of  American  criticism  to  be  found,  for  he  occu 
pies  a  central  position  between  the  old  school  and  the 
new.  .  .  .  His  criticisms  hint  what  service  American 
culture  may  render  to  English  letters  when  it  has  obtained 
an  entirely  independent  point  of  view."1  The  miscel 
laneous  essays,  including  My  Garden  Acquaintance,  On 
a  Certain  Condescension  in  Foreigners,  etc.,  although 
entertaining  and  keen,  are  of  minor  consequence. 
Those  on  public  men  and  political  topics,  of  which 
Abraham  Lincoln  and  Democracy  are  the  chief,  have 
permanent  value  for  their  ardent  but  intelligent  Ameri 
canism,  their  searching  analysis  of  character,  their  flexile 
grasp  on  the  principles  of  government,  and  their  pure 
and  lofty  ideal  of  national  life. 

James  Russell  Lowell  is  our  greatest  man  of  letters,  in 
the  special  sense  of  that  term.  His  literary  sense  was  a 
constituent  part  of  all  his  thinking  and  feeling,  adding 
to  everything  that  he  wrote  an  artistic  quality  without  in 
the  least  diminishing  the  impression  of  earnestness  and 
sincerity.  A  charming  letter- writer;  one  of  the  few  lit 
erary  critics  whose  criticisms  are  themselves  literature; 

1  Richard  Garnett  in  his  introduction  to  My  Study  Windows  (Lon 
don,  Walter  Scott,  1886). 


250      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO   1870. 

a  wise  publicist,  touching  political  problems«vvith  large 
sanity  and  a  noble  idealism;  a  vigorous  humorist  and 
satirist;  an  exponent  of  the  best  American  traditions 
and  of  the  best  English  culture;  a  poet  in  whose 
pages  are  gleams  of  a  poetic  gift  perhaps  richer  than 
can  be  found  elsewhere  in  our  literature;  he  stands 
quite  unrivalled  among  American  authors  for  combined 
excellence  and  versatility  of  production.  And,  yet, 
upon  laying  down  his  works  we  have  a  certain  feeling  of 
disappointment,  as  if  he  had  not  given  us  quite  such 
good  things,  certainly  not  so  many  of  the  best  things,  as 
we  had  a  right  to  expect  from  a  nature  so  rarely  endowed. 
This  feeling  is  strongest  in  regard  to  his  poetry.  It 
would  seem  that  the  proverbially  jealous  Muse  made  even 
Lowell  pay  the  penalty  of  versatility,  angry  that  the 
incense  of  his  worship  should  smoke  upon  other  altars 
than  her  own.  But  it  is  allowed  us  to  believe  that,  on 
the  whole,  it  was  best  so;  America,  at  the  stage  of  culture 
which  she  had  then  reached,  perhaps  needing  a  great 
man  of  letters  more  than  she  needed  a  somewhat  greater 
poet.  At  least,  we  may  justly  be  proud  to  have  so  early 
produced  a  man  worthy  of  admission  into  the  illustrious 
fellowship  of  Dryden,  Addison,  and  Samuel  Johnson. 

OLIVER  WENDELL  HOLMES  l  belonged  to  what  he  himself 
styled  the  "  Brahmin  caste  "  of  New  England.  On  his 

1  LIFE.  Born  in  Cambridge,  Mass.,  Aug.  29,  1809.  In  Phillips 
Academy,  Andover,  1824-1825;  in  Harvard  College,  1825-1829;  in  the 
Harvard  Law  School,  1829-1830 ;  in  a  Boston  medical  school,  1830-1832 ; 
studied  medicine  in  Paris,  1833-1835,  making  visits  to  Germany,  England, 
and  Italy.  Began  the  practice  of  medicine  in  Boston,  1836  ;  professor  of 
anatomy  in  Dartmouth  College,  1839-1840.  Married  Amelia  L.  Jack 
son,  1840;  two  sons  and  a  daughter  were  born  to  him.  Professor  of 
anatomy  in  the  Harvard  Medical  School,  1847-1882;  dean,  1847-1853. 
Received  the  degree  of  LL.D.  from  Harvard,  1880.  To  Europe,  1886 ; 


OLIVER    WENDELL   HOLMES.  251 

mother's  side  he  was  descended  from  Anne  and  Governor 
Bradstreet; 1  his  first  paternal  ancestor  in  America,  John 
Holmes,  settled  in  Woodstock,  Connecticut,  in  1682,  and 
had  for  descendants  a  deacon,  a  captain  and  surgeon, 
and  a  clergyman.  The  last,  the  poet's  father,  was  him 
self  an  author  in  verse  and  prose;  but  it  is  said  that 
Holmes  derived  much  more  of  his  intellectual  quality 
from  his  mother,  who  was  "  a  bright,  vivacious  woman, 
of  small  figure  and  sprightly  manners."  2  As  a  lad,  the 
future  author  of  The  Autocrat  of  the  Breakfast  Table 
early  revealed  a  wide-awake,  inquisitive  mind  and  a  love 
of  letters.  He  read  eagerly  in  his  father's  library  of 
one  or  two  thousand  volumes,  reading  "/;/  books  rather 
than  through  them,"3  and  he  soon  became  a  rhymer 
himself.  Although  his  class  poem  and  his  contributions 
to  college  periodicals  showed  no  great  promise  on  the 
whole,4  he  had  only  just  completed  his  twenty-first  year 

received  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Letters  from  Cambridge,  LL.D.  from 
Edinburgh,  D.C.L.  from  Oxford.  Died  Oct.  7,  1894.  A  Unitarian. 

WORKS.  Poems,  1836-1850.  Collected  edition  in  2  vols.,  1892. 
Medical  Essays,  1842,  1843;  collected  1861.  Pages  from  an  old  Volume 
of  Life,  1857-1861 ;  collected  1863.  The  Autocrat  of  the  Breakfast  Table, 
1858  (first  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly,  1857-1858).  The  Professor  at  the 
Breakfast  Table,  1859  (first  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly,  1859).  Elsie  Venner, 
1861  (first  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly,  1859-1860,  as  The  Professor's  Story). 
The  Guardian  Angel,  1867  (first  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly,  1867) .  The  Poet 
at  the  Breakfast  Table,  1872  (first  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly,  1871-1872). 
Memoir  of  John  Lothrop  Motley,  1878.  Life  of  Emerson,  in  the  Ameri 
can  Men  of  Letters  series,  1884.  A  Mortal  Antipathy,  1885  (first  in  the 
Atlantic  Monthly,  1884-1885).  Over  the  Tea-Cups,  1890  (first  in  the 
Atlantic  Monthly,  1888-1889).  Our  Hundred  Days  in  Europe,  1887. 

1  See  pp.  26-27,  299.     Another  of  his  mother's  ancestors,  Evert  Jansen 
Wendell,  a  Dutchman,  settled  in  Albany  about  the  year  1640. 

2  Life  and  Letters  of  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  by  J.  T.  Morse,  Jr.,  Vol. 
I.,  p.  15. 

3  "  The  Autobiographical  Notes,"  in  Morse,  Vol.  I.,  p.  40. 

4  The  Mysterious  Visitor,  The  Spectre  Pig,  and  a  few  other  of  these 
juvenilia  have,  however,  survived. 


252      THE   LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

when  Old  Ironsides  gave  him  a  taste  of  fame.1  A  year's 
study  of  the  law  convinced  the  young  poet  that  the  legal 
profession  was  not  for  him.  The  study  of  medicine, 
also,  he  took  up  without  much  interest  at  first;  but 
during  his  two  years'  residence  abroad  he  became  an 
enthusiastic  student  under  the  foremost  Parisian  savants, 
and  upon  his  return  to  Boston  he  settled  down  con 
tentedly  enough  to  the  life  of  a  physician.  He  never 
had  a  large  practice,  partly  because  many  people  mis 
trusted  (in  this  case  unjustly)  the  professional  skill  of 
a  doctor  who  was  also  a  poet  and  wit,  and  who  could 
pun  about  his  own  business  by  announcing  that  "the 
smallest  fevers  would  be  thankfully  received."  But  he 
won  several  prizes  for  medical  essays,  and  in  the  essay 
upon  puerperal  fever  "  made  an  original  and  a  greatly 
valuable  contribution  to  medical  science."2  As  profes 
sor  of  anatomy  his  career  was  long  and  honorable,  and 
in  one  way  brilliant.  His  gifts  of  wit  and  fancy  were 
pressed  into  service  to  enliven  a  rather  dry  subject,  which 
he  nevertheless  taught  with  great  thoroughness,  and  the 
last  hour  of  the  day  was  always  assigned  to  him  "because 
he  alone  could  hold  his  exhausted  audience's  attention."  8 


1  The  poem,  which  was  hastily  written  with  a  pencil  on  a  scrap  of 
paper,  as  a  protest  against  the  threatened  destruction  of  the  old  frigate 
"  Constitution,"  was  first  published  in  The  Boston  Daily  Advertiser,  and, 
being  copied  in  the  newspapers  throughout  the  country,  raised  such  a 
storm  of  popular  sentiment  that  the  Navy  Department  countermanded 
its  order. 

2  Morse,  Vol.  I.,  p.  164. 

8  Morse,  Vol.  I.,  p.  176.  " '  These,  gentlemen,'  he  said  on  one 
occasion,  .  .  .  '  are  the  tuberosities  of  the  ischia,  on  which  man  was 
designed  to  sit  and  survey  the  works  of  Creation.'  "  "  None  but  Holmes 
could  have  compared  the  microscopical  coiled  tube  of  a  sweat-gland  to 
a  fairy's  intestine."  —  Reminiscences  by  Holmes's  assistants,  in  Morse, 
Vol.  I.,  pp.  177,  179. 


OLIVER   WENDELL   HOLMES.  253 

In  these  labors  the  years  sped  rapidly  away,  and 
Holmes  had  passed  middle  age  without  achieving  any 
thing  more  than  a  local  reputation  as  poet  and  wit.  It 
was  the  publication  of  The  Autocrat  of  the  Breakfast 
Table,  in  the  early  numbers  of  the  Atlantic  Monthly, 
which  made  the  Boston  medical  lecturer  a  world-famous 
man  of  letters.1  From  this  time  on,  almost  to  the  end 
of  a  very  long  life,  his  literary  career  was  a  series  of 
successes,  his  subsequent  works  confirming  and  extend 
ing,  although  they  did  not  heighten,  the  reputation  which 
The  Autocrat  had  won.  That  he  was  able  to  carry  on, 
for  so  long  and  so  successfully,  two  kinds  of  exacting 
labor,  as  writer  and  lecturer,  was  due  in  no  small  part  to 
his  wife,  "a  comrade  the  most  delightful,  a  helpmate 
the  most  useful,"  who  "hedged  him  carefully  about  and 
protected  him  from  distractions  and  bores  and  interrup 
tions."2  A  family  of  promising  children,  one  of  whom 
has  since  attained  distinction,  and  a  circle  of  brilliant 
friends,  combined  with  other  circumstances  and  a  cheery 
temperament  to  make  an  exceptionally  happy  life.3 
His  four  months'  tour  in  Europe,  when  he  was  hard 
upon  eighty  years  of  age,  afforded  new  evidence  both  of 

1  "  In  The  New  England  Magazine,  which  lived  briefly  from  1831  to 
1835,  Dr.  Holmes  had  published  two  papers  under  this  same  name  and 
of  much  this  same  plan." —  Morse,  Vol.  I.,  p.  205.     Lowell  had  a  hand 
in  revealing  Holmes  to  the  world,  for  in  accepting  the  editorship  of  The 
Atlantic  Monthly  he  made  it  a  condition  that  the  doctor  should  be  "  the 
first  contributor  to  be  engaged  " ;   the  latter  afterward  said,  "  [Lowell] 
woke  me  from  a  kind  of  literary  lethargy  in  which  I  was  half  slumber 
ing."  —  Morse,  Vol,  I.,  p.  204. 

2  Morse,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  170,  171. 

3  Holmes  especially  delighted  in  the  "Saturday  Club,"  whose  mem 
bership   included   Emerson,  Hawthorne,   Longfellow,   Lowell,   Motley, 
Whittier,  Agassiz,  Sumner,  Prescott,  and  many  other  distinguished  and 
"clubable"  men. 


254      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815  TO   1870. 

his  fame  and  of  his  capacity  for  enjoyment  still.  But 
already  the  years  had  begun  to  bring  their  inevitable  sor 
row.  Some  of  his  dearest  friends  had  passed  away,  and 
he  was  destined  to  be  almost  "  the  last  leaf "  on  a  once 
crowded  bough.  In  1884  his  younger  son  died;  four 
years  later,  his  wife;  and  in  one  year  more,  his  only 
daughter.  Shortly  before  this  his  eyesight  had  grown 
very  dim  from  cataract,  which  threatened  him  with  total 
blindness;  happily  he  was  spared  this  affliction,  so 
dreadful  to  a  man  of  letters,  and  he  had  some  use  of  his 
eyes  to  the  very  last.1  His  closing  days  were  tranquil 
and  crowned  with  honor.  Year  after  year,  in  his  beauti 
ful  summer  home  at  Beverly  Farms,  the  old  man  received, 
with  that  harmless  vanity  which  did  not  ill  become  him, 
the  congratulations  that  poured  in  upon  him,  with  every 
returning  birthday,  from  the  friends  and  strangers  who 
delighted  to  do  honor  to  almost  the  last  survivor  of  the 
nation's  greatest  group  of  writers.  Decay  and  death 
stole  upon  him  by  scarcely  perceptible  degrees,  and  he 
died  painlessly  in  his  chair  at  last. 

The  individuality  of  Doctor  Holmes  is  so  stamped 
upon  his  pages  that  there  is  no  need  to  dwell  upon  it 
separately.  But  his  writings  are  the  embodiment  of 
something  more  than  an  original,  sparkling,  keen- 
minded,  and  kind-hearted  personality.  They  are  also 
an  expression  of  New  England,  and  particularly  of  Bos 
ton  as  Boston  was  in  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  cen 
tury.  Holmes  was  as  distinctively  American  and  (in  a 


1  In  1887  he  wrote  to  a  friend  that  he  had  "  a  cataract  in  the  kitten  state 
of  development."  Equally  characteristic,  in  another  way,  was  "  the 
serene  and  cheerful  courage  with  which  he  faced  the  dread  prospect  "  of 
total  blindness. —  Morse,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  74,  75. 


OLIVER   WENDELL   HOLMES.  255 

good  sense)  provincial  as  any  Texan  cowboy  or  Cali- 
fornian  poker-sharp,  although  Europeans  with  an  imper 
fect  knowledge  of  American  life  have  not  always  fully 
realized  the  fact.  In  studying  the  various  classes  of  his 
works,  it  is  therefore  profitable  to  note  the  impress  of 
heredity  and  environment  as  well  as  that  of  a  unique 
personality. 

Holmes's  greatest  ambition  was  to  be  a  poet.  It  is 
pleasant  to  believe  that  the  soul  of  his  far-off  ancestress, 
that  "Tenth  Muse  lately  sprung  up  in  America,"  l  lived 
again  in  him,  and  in  his  poems  found  the  more  perfect 
expression  which  had  been  impossible  to  her  in  Puritan 
New  England's  early  days.  But  it  must  be  doubted 
whether  even  the  nineteenth-century  poet  attained  more 
than  twice  to  any  very  high  degree  of  purely  poetical 
excellence,  —  once  in  The  Chambered  Nautilus,  which 
is  perfect  as  the  beautiful  embodiment  of  a  noble  pre 
cept,  and  again  in  The  Last  Leaf,  so  unique  a  blending 
of  seemingly  irreconcilable  elements  that  one  is  tempted 
to  describe  it  as  a  minuet  danced  with  dainty  lightness 
to  the  music  of  an  elegy.2  In  most  of  his  other  famous 
poems,  such  as  The  One- floss  Shay,  Dorothy  Q.,  and 
The  Broomstick  Train,  imagination  is  less  conspicuous 
than  wit,  satire,  and  fancy  in  the  service  of  these.3  As 
poetry  of  the  lighter  intellectual  type,  they  stand  high; 

1  See  p.  26. 

2  "  Is  there  in  all  literature  a  lyric  in  which  drollery,  passing  nigh 
unto  ridicule  yet  stopping  short  of  it,  and  sentiment  becoming  pathos 
yet  not  too  profound,  are  so  exquisitely  intermingled?  ...     To  spill 
into  the  mixture  the  tiniest  fraction  of  a  drop  too  much  of  either  ingre 
dient  was  to  ruin  all."  —  Morse,  Vol.  I.,  p.  229. 

3  The  Broomstick  Train  is  notable  both  as  the  work  of  so  old  a  man 
and  as  a  fanciful  union  of  the  ancient  marvel  of  New  England  witchcraft 
with  the  modern  marvel  of  electricity. 


256     THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

and  as  a  writer  of  vers  &  occasion  Holmes  has  no  superior 
and  few  equals,  for  he  could  be  merry  and  wise  at  the 
same  instant  and  without  letting  either  quality  get  in  the 
way  of  the  other.  A  predominance  of  intellectual  ele 
ments  was  natural  enough  in  the  poetry  of  a  clear-headed 
man  of  science  and  a  descendant  of  the  logical  Puritans. 
Doctor  Holmes  was,  furthermore,  by  heredity  and  en 
vironment,  an  aristocrat  of  the  New  England  sort,  and  he 
showed  the  conservatism  of  an  aristocrat  in  his  literary 
leanings  as  in  most  others,  preferring  to  model  his  verse 
upon  the  clean-cut,  intellectual  poetry  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  on  which  his  youth  had  been  nourished,  rather 
than  upon  the  romantic  poetry  of  his  own  century.1  In 
so  doing  he  was  wise,  for  he  thereby  attempted  nothing 
which  he  could  not  do  well.  In  the  service  of  far-darting 
Apollo  he  did  not  aim  at  many  marks,  but  the  marks  he 
aimed  at  he  hit. 

Brilliant  as  Holmes' s  poetry  is,  the  prose  works  of  the 
"  Breakfast  Table  "  series  are  perhaps  more  brilliant  still; 
certainly  they  are  a  more  complete  expression  of  the 
man  and  of  the  atmosphere  in  which  Jie  lived.  The 
Autocrat  has  been  happily  described  as  "verbal  cham 
pagne  ";  a  more  homely  but  no  less  truthful  comparison 
would  liken  it  to  Apollinaris  water  —  all  bubble-  and 
prickle.  Doctor  Holmes  was  one  of  the  most  brilliant 
talkers  that  ever  lived,2  and  his  biographer  says  that 

1  "  My  favorite  reading  [in  youth]  was  Pope's  Homer ;  to  the  present 
time  the  grand  couplets  ring  in  my  ears  and  stimulate  my  imagination, 
in  spite  of  their  formal  symmetry,  which  makes  them  hateful  to  the  law 
less  versificators  who  find  anthems  in  the  clash  of  blacksmiths'  hammers, 
and  fugues  in  the  jangle  of  the  sleigh  bells."  —  "  The  Autobiographical 
Notes,"  in  Morse,  Vol.  I.,  p.  48. 

2  "  Perhaps  no  man  of  modern  times  has  given  his  contemporaries  a 
more  extraordinary  impression  of  wit  in  conversation.    We  are  told 


OLIVER  WENDELL   HOLMES.  257 

"The  Autocrat  held  his  talk  crystallized."1  The  plan 
of  the  book  is  original  and  happy,  allowing  the  freedom 
and  discursiveness  of  "table-talk"  to  be  combined  with 
something  of  the  continuity  of  the  essay;  nor  are  the 
more  popular  elements  of  a  love  story  and  of  character- 
sketching  wholly  lacking.  Into  this  mould  are  poured 
the  wit  and  wisdom  of  a  lifetime.  George  William 
Curtis  has  spoken,  of  "the  whimsical  discursiveness 
of  the  book,  the  restless  hovering  of  that  brilliant 
talk  over  every  topic,  fancy,  feeling,  fact."  And  he 
adds,  "There  are  few  books  that  leave  more  distinctly 
the  impression  of  a  mind  teeming  with  riches  of  many 
kinds."2  Furthermore,  The  Autocrat  is  saturated  with 
the  essence  of  Bostonian  New  Englandism  —  its  local 
pride  in  a  state  and  a  city  which  have  played  a  great  part 
in  great  historic  events;  its  Puritanic  cleanness  in 
morals;  its  intellectual  form  of  religion,  the  intellectu 
ality  (though  not  the  doctrines  nor  the  liberality)  a 
lineal  descendant  of  the  faith  of  the  Puritans;  its  Yankee 
shrewdness  and  wit,  underlying  a  culture  fundamentally 
English;  its  highly  intelligent,  if  conservative  and  some 
what  provincial,  mental  attitude  and  outlook.  This 
and  more  are  in  The  Autocrat,  which,  without  being  a 
profound  book,  may  be  a  very  profitable  one.  They 
greatly  err  who  find  in  it  only  the  crackling  of  thorns 
under  a  pot;  the  thorns  are  there  and  they  crackle,  but 


that  .  .  .  he  listened  as  brilliantly  as  he  spoke,  taking  up  every  challenge, 
capping  every  anecdote,  rippling  over  with  an  illuminated  cascade  of 
fancy  and  humor  and  repartee."  —  Edmund  Gosse,  in  Morse,  Vol.  I.,  p.  247. 

1  Morse,  Vol.  I.,  p.  245. 

2  Morse,  Vol.  I.,  p.  206.     Holmes  himself  said  that  the  papers  were 
"  not  the  result  of  an  express  premeditation,"  but  were  "  dipped  from  the 
running  stream  of  my  thoughts."  —Ibid.,  Vol.  I.,  p.  207. 


258     THE   LITERATURE   FROM    1815   TO    1870. 

there  is  also  something  in  the  pot.  The  Autocrat  is 
deservedly  the  most  popular  of  the  series.  The  Pro 
fessor  and  The  Poet  have  less  vivacity,  and  although 
they  are  not  heavy  they  are  more  continuously  serious 
in  matter  and  manner.  Over  the  Tea- Cups  is  naturally 
feebler  than  the  earlier  papers,  but  has  its  own  peculiar 
value  as  the  talk  of  a  brilliant  old  man. 

No  one  can  regret  that  Holmes  tried  his  hand  at  novel- 
writing;  yet  his  novels  are  the  clever  work  of  a  very 
bright  man  rather  than  the  creations  of  a  born  novelist. 
All  three  contain  vivid  and  truthful  pictures  of  New 
England  village  life  and  capital  sketches  of  New  England 
types.  As  a  whole,  however,  A  Mortal  Antipathy,  writ 
ten  when  its  author  had  passed  the  creative  age,  is  sadly 
inferior  to  the  other  two.  Elsie  Venner  is  original  and 
powerful  as  a  "snake  story  ";  and  The  Guardian  Angel, 
in  addition  to  a  piquant  style  and  much  admirable  wit 
and  satire,  has  one  character  that  deserves  to  live  — 
Byles  Gridley,  bachelor,  retired  college  professor,  and 
author  of  a  dead  book.  Yet  even  these  two  leave  the 
impression  of  being  manufactured,  not  created;  and  so, 
in  fact,  they  were.  Holmes  wrote  all  his  novels  to  illus 
trate  the  influence  of  heredity,  and  to  this  theme  the  plot 
and  the  characters  are  too  manifestly  subordinate.1  But 
although  the  novels  thereby  lose  in  one  way,  they  gain 

1  "You  see. exactly  what  I  wish  to  do:  to  write  a  story  with  enough 
of  interest  in  its  characters  and  incidents  to  attract  a  certain  amount  of 
popular  attention.  Under  cover  of  this  to  stir  that  mighty  question  of 
automatic  agency  in  its  relation  to  self-determination.  To  do  this  by 
means  of  a  palpable  outside  agency,  predetermining  certain  traits  of 
character  and  certain  apparently  voluntary  acts,  such  as  the  common 
judgment  of  mankind  and  the  tribunals  of  law  and  theology  have  been 
in  the  habit  of  recognizing  as  sin  and  crime.  Not  exactly  insanity,  — 
but  rather  an  unconscious  intuitive  tendency,  dating  from  a  powerful 


OLIVER   WENDELL    HOLMES.  259 

in  other  ways.  They  are  one  more  contribution  of  medi 
cal  science  to  pure  literature;  they  reveal  the  serious  side 
of  Holmes  more  fully  ;  and  the  question  which  they  raise, 
in  so  interesting  and  original  a  way,  is  one  of  profound 
moment  for  morals  and  theology.  In  fact,  the  author's 
chief  motive  in  making  these  studies  was  ethical  and 
theological  rather  than  scientific.  He,  of  course,  took 
a  lively  interest  in  the  purely  scientific  side  of  the 
matter.1  But,  true  to  his  Puritan  descent,  he  was  at 
bottom  a  moralist  and  theologian.  His  hatred  of  the 
Calvinism  in  which  he  had  been  reared  was,  indeed, 
intense  throughout  his  adult  life.  In  literature  and  poli 
tics  a  conservative,2  in  theology  he  was  a  fighting  radical. 
His  study,  in  these  novels,  of  the  limits  of  free  will,  and, 
consequently,  the  limits  of  men's  moral  responsibility 
before  God  and  man,  although  necessarily  not  exhaustive, 
strikes  deep  into  the  matter  from  one  side  —  the  physical, 

—  and  is  stimulative  of  thought  upon  the  other  sides. 
Considerable  emphasis  has  been  laid  upon  Holmes's 

ante-natal  influence,  which  modifies  the  whole  organization.  To  make 
the  subject  of  this  influence  interest  the  reader,  to  carry  the  animalizing 
of  her  nature  just  as  far  as  can  be  done  without  rendering  her  repulsive, 

—  such  is  the  idea  of  this  story.     It  is  conceived  in  the  fear  of  God  and 
in   the   love  of   man."  —  Letter  to    Mrs.   Stowe,   in   1860,  about  Elsie 
Venner  ;  in  Morse,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  263-264. 

1  "  The  snake  was  not  repulsive  to  him ;  while  writing  the  book  he 
was  so  desirous  to  have  the  rattlesnake  vividly  present  to  his  mind  as  a 
living  reptile  .  .  .  that  he  procured  a  live  one  .  .  .  and  kept  it  for  many 
weeks  at  the  medical  school.     He  had  a  long  stick  arranged  with  a 
padded  kid  glove  at  one  end  and  a  prodding  point  at  the  other,  and 
he  used  to  excite  the  creature  and  watch   its  coiling  and  its  striking, 
study  its  eyes  and  expression,  its  ways,  its  character.  .  .  .     His  scientific 
research  explored  all   printed  knowledge  concerning  the  reptiles  and 
their  venom."  —  Morse,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  258-259. 

2  It  is  clear  Jhat  he  was  at  best  lukewarm  in  the  anti-slavery,  temper 
ance,  and  other  reforms  of  his  day,  despite  his  letter  of  self-defence  in  re 
ply  to  Lowell's  strictures.     (See  Morse,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  295-303,  for  the  letter.) 


260      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

Americanism,  the  flavor  of  which,  as  his  biographer  has 
happily  said,  is  "as  local,  as  pungent,  as  unmistakable, 
as  that  of  a  cranberry  from  the  best  bog  on  Cape  Cod."  l 
But  his  Americanism  was  not  of  the  narrow  and  really 
timorous  kind  which  can  maintain  itself  only  by  exclud 
ing  foreign  influences.  Like  all  the  writers  of  his  group, 
he  was  permeated  with  the  best  English  culture,  which 
was,  in  a  way,  as  native  to  the  home  and  community  and 
university  in  which  he  had  been  reared  as  to  the  mother 
country  itself.  His  classical  studies  had  not  failed  to 
do  their  part  in  the  shaping  of  a  poet  who  has  much  of 
the  bonkommiC)  finished  wit,  and  genial  satiric  power 
of  Horace.  His  residence  in  France,  where  he  became 
intimately  familiar  with  the  French  language  and  the 
French  mind,  reenforced  his  natural  tendency  to  vivacity 
and  piquancy  of  style.2  But,  after  all,  these  were  only 
grafts  on  the  main  stock.  That  stock  was  American, 
New  England,  Bostonian;  and  the  genius  of  the  tree  was 
one  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  as  unique  and  entertaining 
an  individuality  as  ever  revealed  itself  in  letters. 

Philadelphia  continued  to  be  the  centre  of  consider 
able  literary  activity,  although  its  importance  in  this 
respect  was  relatively  less  than  in  earlier  days.  Among 
the  writers  who,  because  of  birth  or  residence  in  that 
region,  may  for  convenience  be  grouped  together,  ROB 
ERT  M.  BIRD  (1805-1854)  had  some  prominence  for 
a  time ;  he  was  editor  of  the  Philadelphia  North  Ameri- 


1  Morse,  Vol.  I.,  p.  208. 

2  His  gift  in  this  way  may  have  been  partly  an  inheritance  from  his 
talented  ancestress,  Mrs.  Bradstreet.     See  the  extracts  from  her  pithy 
Meditations  t  on  p.  27. 


PENNSYLVANIA   AUTHORS.  261 

can  Gazette,  and  author  of  Nick  of  the  Woods :  a  Tale  of 
Kentucky  (1837),  several  other  novels,  and  three  trage 
dies,  including  The  Gladiator,  which  was  played  by 
Forrest  and  still  holds  the  boards.  Another  successful 
dramatist  was  ROBERT  T.  CONRAD  (1810-1858),  editor 
of  Graham' s  Magazine,  and  author  of  Aylmere  (1841), 
a  strong  though  rather  loud  play  on  Jack  Cade,  which 
was  acted  by  Forrest  at  home  and  abroad.  THOMAS  D. 
ENGLISH  (1819-  ),  journalist,  lawyer,  physician, 
wrote  novels,  poems,  and  dramas,  but  only  his  song  of 
Ben  Bolt  (in  Poems,  1855)  has  lived.  The  poet  and 
artist  THOMAS  B.  READ  (1822-1872),  whose  dashing 
Sheridan 's  Ride  (1865)  is  one  of  the  most  popular  of 
the  poems  of  the  Civil  War,  was  less  happy  in  his  longer 
productions.  The  New  Pastoral  (1855),  on  life  in 
Pennsylvania,  is  slow  and  heavy;  The  House  by  the  Sea 
(1855)  attempts  the  supernatural,  with  small  success; 
The  Wagoner  of  the  Alleghanies  (1862),  on  the  Revolu 
tionary  War,  contains  some  stirring  narration  and  good 
descriptions  of  American  scenery,  but  lacks  the  large 
ness  and  power  demanded  by  the  subject,  besides  being 
in  metre  and  style  manifestly  an  echo  of  Scott's  narrative 
poems.  GEORGE  H.  BOKER  (1823-1890),  minister  to 
Turkey  and  Russia,  was  a  respectable  poet  and  a  drama 
tist  of  more  than  ordinary  ability.1  The  style  of  his 
plays  is  strong  and  flowing,  the  characters  are  clearly 
outlined  and  motived,  and  the  plots  move  firmly  to  a 
dignified  climax;  Calaynos,  his  best  tragedy,  was  suc 
cessfully  acted  in  London  in  1849.  CHARLES  G.  LELAND 

i  The  Lesson  of  Life,  1847.  Calaynos,  1848.  Anne  Boleyn,  1850. 
The  Podesta's  Daughter,  1852.  Plays  and  Poems,  1856.  Poems  of  the 
War,  1864.  Etc. 


262      THE   LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

(TQ?4_         );    magazine   writer   and   editor,    is  known 
ch;  ly  by  his  humorous  Hans  Breitman's  Ballads  (corn- 
pit     ,  1871),  in  the  German-American  dialect. 
Vhe   greatest   of    the   Pennsylvania   authors   of   this 

period  was  BAYARD  TAYLOR.1     His  father  was  a  farmer, 

ii 

1  LIFE.  Born  Jan.  u,  1825,  at  Kennctt  Square,  Pcnn.  Educated 
in'  cal  schools;  in  West  Chester  Academy,  1837-1839;  in  Unionville 
Acnjlerny,  as  student  and  tutor,  1839-1842.  Apprenticed  to  a  printer  in 
\V'  t.  liester,  1842.  To  England,  Germany,  Italy,  France,  1844-1846. 
Edited *The  Phcenixville  Pioneer,  1846-1847;  in  New  York,  writing  for 
The  Literary  World,  The  Union  Magazine,  and  The  Tribune,  1847- 
1849;  to  California  as  Tribunes  correspondent,  1849-1850.  Married 
Mary  Agnew,  then  dying  of  consumption,  1850.  To  Egypt,  Syria,  Asia 
Minor,  Ethiopia,  Spain,  India,  China,  1851-1853.  Bought  a  farm  near 
Kennett,  1853.  Made  extensive  lecture  tours  in  United  States,  1854- 
1856.  To  Northern  Europe,  1856.  Married  Marie  Hansen,  daughter 
of  a  German  astronomer,  1857;  one  daughter  was  born  to  him.  To 
Greece,  1857-1858.  Lectured  in  California  and  elsewhere,  1858-1861 ; 
built  Cedarcroft  on  his  Kennett  estate,  and  abandoned  his  New  York 
home,  1861.  Secretary  of  the  Russian  Legation,  1862-1863.  To  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  1866;  to  Spain  and  Italy,  1867-1868.  Appointed 
non-resident  professor  of  German  literature  at  Cornell  University  in 
1869,  and  lectured  there  for  several  years.  Offered  Cedarcroft  for  sale, 
and  removed  to  New  York,  1871.  In  Germany,  with  excursions  to  Italy, 
Egypt,  and  Iceland,  1872-1874.  In  United  States,  writing  and  lecturing, 
1874-1878.  Minister  to  Germany,  1878;  died  in  Berlin,  Dec.  19,  1878. 

WORKS.  Xirhena,  1844.  Views  Afoot,  1846.  Rhymes  of  Travel, 
Ballads,  and  Poems,  1848  (imprint,  1849).  Eldorado,  1850.  A  Book 
of  Romances,  Lyrics,  and  Songs,  1851.  A  Journey  to  Central  Africa, 

1854.  The  Lands  of  the  Saracen,  1854.     Poems  of  the  Orient,  1854. 
A  Visit  to  India,  China,  and  Japan,  1855.     Poems  of  Home  and  Travel, 

1855.  Northern  Travel,  1857.    Travels  in  Greece  and  Russia,  1859.    At 
Home  and  Abroad,  1859;    second  series,  1862.    The  Poet's  Journal, 
1862.     Hannah  Thurston,  1863.     John  Godfrey's  Fortunes,  1864.     The 
Story  of  Kennett,  1866.     The  Picture  of  St.  John,  1866.     Colorado :  a 
Summer  Trip,  1867.     The  Golden  Wedding,  1868.     By- Ways  of  Europe, 
1869.     Joseph  and  His  Friend,  1870.     Translation  of  Faust,  1870-1871. 
Beauty  and  the  Beast,  and  Tales  of  Home,  1872.     The  Masque  of  the 
Gods,  1872.     Lars :  a  Pastoral  of  Norway,  1873.     Egypt  and   Iceland, 
1874.     The  Prophet :  a  Tragedy,  1874.     Home   Pastorals,  Ballads,  and 
Lyrics,  1875.     The  Echo  Club,  1876.     Boys  of  Other  Countries,  1876. 
The  National  Ode,  1876.     Prince  Deukalion,  1878.     Studies  in  German 
Literature,  1879.    Critical  Essays  and  Literary  Notes,  1880. 


BAYARD   TAYLOR.  263 

whose  ancestors  came  to  America  with  Perm;  on  his 
mother's  side  he  inherited  considerable  Germar- 
Swiss  blood.  In  spite  of  his  Quaker  training,  the  ••<***{ 
early  displayed  a  restless,  roving  disposition;  but 
took  naturally  to  letters  also,  writing  verses  at  se^  .  < 
years,  and  reading  Goethe,  Scott,  and  Gibbon  wh 
yet  a  mere  lad.  In  his  twentieth  year  he  resolved  o 
gratify  his  thirst  for  foreign  travel;  but  his  means  oe  g 
very  limited,  he  went  through  Europe  chiefly  afoof  ^id 
often  lived  upon  bread,  figs,  and  chestnuts,  at  a  cost  of 
six  cents  a  day.  His  first  book  of  travels,  however, 
became  at  once  popular,  and  Taylor's  destiny  was  mani 
fest:  he  was  to  be  the  man  of  letters  in  motion.  His 
energy  in  both  travelling  and  writing  was  enormous.  In 
India  he  went  more  than  two  thousand  miles  in  less 
than  two  months;  in  northern  Europe  he  rode  two  hun 
dred  and  fifty  miles  behind  reindeer,  and  journeyed  five 
hundred  miles  within  the  Arctic  Circle.  His  pen  trav 
elled  nearly  as  fast  as  his  feet;  in  two  months  and  a  half 
he  wrote  nine  hundred  royal  octavo  pages  of  a  cyclo 
paedia  of  travel,  and  in  a  night  and  a  day  he  read  Victor 
Hugo's  voluminous  La  Legende  des  Siecles  and  wrote  a 
long  review  of  it,  including  metrical  translations  of  five 
poems.  All  this  was  not  conducive  to  the  highest  art 
or  to  long  life.  But  native  restlessness,  grief  at  the 
death  of  his  first  wife,  poverty,  an  ambition  (resembling 
Scott's)  to  build  up  a  large  estate  by  the  profits  of  his 
pen,  and  resulting  debts,  all  combined  to  allow  Taylor 
no  rest  for  hand  or  foot.  The  responsibilities  of  high 
public  office  proved  to  be  the  last  straw,  and  he  died 
at  his  post  before  his  career  as  minister  to  Germany  had 
little  more  than  begun. 


264      THE   LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

Taylor's  volumes  of  travel  are  entertaining  and  give 
Accurate  pictures  of  the  lands  through  which  he  passed, 
but  such  books  are,  necessarily,  sooner  or  later  super 
seded.  His  novels,  although  they  sold  well  for  a  time, 
have  proved,  like  his  tales  and  sketches,  to  be  lacking 
in  vitality.  Mr.  Stedman  thinks  Taylor's  literary  criti 
cisms  "  the  ripest  and  most  valuable  portion  of  his  prose 
labor  "; x  yet  who  but  the  scholar  now  reads  them?  The 
dramas  —  both  the  realistic  Prophet,  on  Mormonism, 
and  the  idealistic  Masque  of  the  Gods  and  Deukalion,  in 
which  Shelley's  influence  is  too  apparent  —  are  failures, 
although  the  last  two  contain  noble  passages  and  show 
much  metrical  skill.  The  narrative  poems  are  far  more 
successful.  Lars,  with  its  vivid  and  finely  contrasted 
pictures  of  life  on  the  Norwegian  coast  and  by  the  peace 
ful  Delaware,  and  its  portrait  of  a  soul  passing  from 
half-savage  fierceness  to  the  gentleness  of  Quaker  Chris 
tianity,  is  deservedly  popular.  Hylas  is  a  soft  and  lovely 
retouching  of  the  old  Greek  myth,  not  unworthy  of 
Landor.  In  his  California  Ballads  and  Pennsylvania 
Idyls  Taylor  opened  fresh  fields,  which  were  to  be  worked 
more  fully  by  later  men  and  were  to  yield  some  of  our 
most  distinctively  American  products  in  verse  and  prose. 
The  principal  new  element,  however,  which  this  world- 
traveller  brought  into  American  literature  was  that 
Orientalism  which  found  its  best  expression  in  Poems 
of  the  Orient,  including  the  famous  Bedouin  Song. 
There  was  something  Oriental  in  the  man  himself.  It 
appeared  in  his  "down-drooping  eyelids;  ...  in  his 
aquiline  nose,  with  the  expressive  tremor  of  the  nostrils 
as  he  spoke;  in  his  thinly  tufted  chin,  his  close-curling 

1  Poets  of  America,  p.  420. 


WALT  WHITMAN.  265 

hair;  his  love  of  spices,  music,  coffee,  colors,  and  per 
fumes."1  And  it  went  into  these  poems,  in  which  one 
finds  a  sense  of  the  hot  desert  sands  and  the  fierce  sun, 
the  Arab's  love  of  his  horse,  the  sensuous  languor  and 
burning  passion  of  the  Oriental's  nature.  German  lit 
erature  affected  Taylor's  poetry  less  than  might  have 
been  expected  when  one  considers  his  saturation  in  it; 
but  his  translation  of  Faust  combines  considerable 
scholarship  with  remarkable  metrical  ingenuity,  and  is 
the  best  rendering  of  the  poem  into  English  verse. 

WALT  WHITMAN,2  as  a  native  and  resident  of  the 
Middle  States,  may  be  spoken  of  in  connection  with  the 
Pennsylvania  group.  On  the  side  of  his  father,  a 
farmer  and  carpenter,  he  was  descended  from  John 
Whitman,  who  came  to  Massachusetts  about  the  year 
1640;  his  mother,  the  daughter  of  a  Quakeress,  was  of 
Dutch  origin.  He  received  only  a  common-school  edu 
cation,  but  as  a  lad  was  an  omnivorous  novel-reader,  and 
revelled  in  Scott's  poetry  and  The  Arabian  Nights. 

1  Stedman's  Poets  of  America,  p.  406. 

2  LIFE.     Born  at  West  Hills,  Long  Island,  May  31,  1819.    Lived  in 
Brooklyn,  1824-1833  (?)  ;  printer  in  New  York,  1836-1837;  then  taught 
country  schools  for  two  or  three  years;  published  a  weekly  paper  at 
Huntington,  L.I.,  1839-1840;  in  New  York  and  Brooklyn  as  printer  and 
writer,  1840-1849,  editing  the  Brooklyn  Daily  Eagle,  1848-1849.    Jour 
neyed  through  the  West  and  South,  1849,  serving  on  the  editorial  staff  of 
the  New  Orleans  Daily  Cresc.ent  for  a  short  time ;  returned  by  the  Great 
Lakes  and  Canada.     Lived  several  years  in  New  York  and  Brooklyn  as 
carpenter,  printer,  editor,  and  author.     Frequented  the  army  hospitals, 
1863-1865.      Held  government  clerkships   in   Washington,    1865-1874. 
Stricken  with  paralysis,  went   to  Camden,  N  J.,  to  live,  1874.     Visited 
Colorado  and  St.  Louis,  1879.     Died  at  Camden,  March  26,  1892. 

WORKS.  Leaves  of  Grass,  1855;  the  subsequent  editions,  1856, 
1860,  1867,  1871,  1876,  1881,  i882rcontain  many  changes  and  additions. 
Drum  Taps,  1865.  Passage  to  India,  1870.  Democratic  Vistas,  1870. 
Memoranda  during  the  War,  1875.  Specimen  Days  and  Collect,  1882. 
November  Boughs,  1888.  Good-bye,  My  Fancy,  1891. 


266      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

"Later,"  he  says,  "...  I  used  to  go  off  ...  down 
in  the  country,  or  to  Long  Island's  seashores  —  there,  in 
the  presence  of  outdoor  influences,  I  went  over  thor 
oughly  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  and  absorbed 
.  .  .  Shakspere,  Ossian,  the  best  translated  versions 
I  could  get  of  Homer,  /Eschylus,  Sophocles,  the  old 
German  Nibelungen,  the  ancient  Hindoo  poems,  and 
one  or  two  other  masterpieces,  Dante's  among  them. 
As  it  happened,  I  read  the  latter  mostly  in  an  old 
wood.'"' 1  His  chief  love,  however,  was  for  nature  and  for 
the  life  that  surged  around  him  in  Brooklyn  and  New 
York.  He  had  a  "passion  for  ferries,"  and  was  hail- 
fellow-well-met  with  the  burly  tribe  of  omnibus  drivers 
along  Broadway,  The  "leisurely  journey  and  working 
expedition"  of  eight  thousand  miles,  which,  as  a  printer 
and  journalist,  he  made  through  the  West,  South,  and 
North,  in  the  prime  of  his  manhood,  gave  him  a  wide 
knowledge,  at  first  hand,  of  the  masses  of  the  American 
people.  With  the  Civil  War  began  a  new  epoch  in  his 
life.  His  services  as  a  volunteer  army  nurse,  in  the 
course  of  which  he  went  "  among  from  eighty  thousand 
to  a  hundred  thousand  of  the  wounded  and  sick,"  were 
unique  and  of  great  value,  especially,  as  he  himself  says, 
"  in  the  simple  matters  of  personal  presence,  and  ema 
nating  ordinary  cheer  and  magnetism."2  His  health, 
superb  as  it  was,  broke  down  under  the  strain  before  the 
war  ended,  and  it  was  never  fully  restored.  Partial 
paralysis  finally  compelled  him  to  resign  his  government 
clerkship;  and  the  remainder  of  his  days  he  spent  chiefly 
in  his  quiet  New  Jersey  home,  half  an  invalid,  and  some- 

1  A  Backward  Glance  o'er  Travelled  Roads. 

2  Specimen  Days. 


WALT   WHITMAN.  267 

times  dependent  upon  the  willing  help  of  friends  for  the 
supply  of  his  simple  wants.  He  continued  to  write 
poetry  and  prose,  getting  inspiration  for  some  of  it  from 
a  second  trip  to  the  West.  Occasionally  he  went  up  the 
Hudson  to  visit  John  Burroughs,  and  he  called  upon 
Longfellow  and  Emerson  the  year  before  they  died. 
Ten  years  later  "the  Good  Gray  Poet"  1  himself  passed 
away. 

Two  great  facts  underlie  Whitman's  poetry.  The  first 
is  Democracy  in  America.  "  It  seemed  to  me  ...  the 
time  had  come,"  he  says,  "to  reflect  all  themes  and 
things,  old  and  new,  in  the  lights  thrown  on  them  by  the 
advent  of  America  and  democracy."  '2  Democracy  is  to 
him  Equality,  first  of  all, —"giving  others  the  same 
chances  and  rights  as  myself."3  Next,  it  is  Comrade 
ship,  "in  a  more  commanding  and  acknowledged 
sense  than  hitherto."2  And  the  goal  of  it  all  is 
"the  forming  of  myriads  of  fully  developed  indi 
viduals,"2  for  he  believed  that  "the  crowning  growth 
of  the  United  States  is  to  be  spiritual  and  heroic."2 

A  great  city  is  that  which  has  the  greatest  men  and  women, 
If  it  be  but  a  few  ragged  huts  it  is  still  the  greatest  city  in  the 
whole  world.4 

His  thought  about  the  relation  of  the  democratic 
present  to  the  feudal  past  is  equally  broad  and  just: 
"America  fully  and  fairly  construed  .  .  .  is  the  legiti 
mate  result  and  revolutionary  outcome  of  the  past";2 
"  ere  the  New  World  can  be  worthily  original  ...  she 

1  The  phrase  is  W.  D.  O'Connor's,  in  his  vindication  of  Whitman  in 
1866. 

2  A  Backward  Glance  o  er  Travelled  Roads. 

3  Thought,  in  By  the  Roadside.  4  Song  of  the  Broad- Axe. 


268      THE   LITERATURE   FROM    1815   TO    1870. 

must  be  well  saturated  with  the  originality  of  others."1 
He  was  keenly  aware  of  our  present  shortcomings :  "  I 
say  that  our  New  World  democracy,  however  great  a 
success  in  uplifting  the  masses  out  of  their  sloughs,  in 
materialistic  development,  products,  and  in  a  certain 
highly  deceptive,  superficial,  popular  intellectuality,  is, 
so  far,  an  almost  complete  failure  in  its  social  aspects, 
and  in  really  grand  religious,  moral,  literary,  and  esthetic 
results."2  Yet  he  was  hopeful  for  the  future,  believing 
that  although  "democracy's  first  instincts  are  fain  .  .  . 
to  reduce  everything  to  a  dead  level,"  yet  "the  new 
influences,  upon  the  whole,  are  surely  preparing  the  way 
for  grander  individualities  than  ever."3 

His  method  of  giving  literary  expression  to  democracy 
is,  first  of  all,  to  portray  himself,  "faithfully"  and  "un 
compromisingly,"  as  one  representative  American,  "the 
born  child  of  the  New  World." 

One's-Self  I  sing,  a  simple  separate  person, 

Yet  utter  the  word  Democratic,  the  word  En-Masse.4 

But  he  also  ranges,  in  thought,  over  the  continent, 
and  paints  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men,  in  masses, 
on  a  large  canvas  with  broad  sweeps  of  the  brush.  The 
intellect  and  culture  of  America,  however,  receive  little 
attention;  he  was  attracted  chiefly  to  common  men  and 
women,  and  to  rough,  hardy  life  in  the  open  air.  The 
scenes  of  the  Civil  War,  as  a  tremendous  expression  of 

1  Specimen  Days ;  a  quotation,  with  approval,  of  what  he  had  heard 
Longfellow  say. 

2  Democratic  Vistas. 

3  A  Backward  Glance  o'er  Travelled  Roads. 

4  One's-Self  I  Sing.     See  also  Starting  from  Paumanok  and  Song 
of  Myself. 


WALT   WHITMAN.  269 

the  best  life  of  the  Republic,  supplied  him  with  many 
subjects;  while  the  death  of  Lincoln,  the  great  American 
commoner,  was  the  inspiration  of  two  of  his  noblest 
poems.1  Whatever  the  subject,  there  appears  constantly 
a  great  faith  in  democracy  and  the  worth  of  the  common 
man.  In  his  own  rougher  way,  Whitman  preaches 
Emerson's  doctrine  of  self-reliance:2  — 

We  have  had  ducking  and  deprecating  about  enough, 
I  show  that  size  is  only  development. 
Have  you  outstript  the  rest  ?  are  you  the  President  ? 
It  is  a  trifle,  they  will  more  than  arrive  there,  every  one,  and 
still  pass  on.3 

The  second  great  influence  upon  Whitman's  poetry  was 
Science.  According  to  his  light  he  put  into  practice  the 
creed  of  the  scientist  that  whatever  is  natural  is  right :  — 

Of  physiology  from  top  to  toe  I  sing.4 

I  am  not  the  poet  of  goodness  only,  I  do  not  decline  to  be  the 
poet  of  wickedness  also.5 

Give  me  the  drench  of  my  passions,  give  me  life  coarse  and  rank.6 

The  poems  which  elaborate  the  ideas  expressed  in 
these  lines  have  exposed  Whitman  to  the  charge  of  in 
decency;  but  his  error  was  intellectual  and  aesthetic 
rather  than  moral.  He  lacked  that  delicacy  which 
would  have  taught  him  that  some  things  are  less  beauti 
ful  if  dragged  into  broad  day;  and  his  conception  of 

1  O   Captain,  My   Captain  and    When  Lilacs  last  in  the  Dooryard 
Bloomed.    See  also  Come  up  from  the  Fields,  Father  ;    Vigil  Strange  I 
Kept;  and  First,  O  Songs,  for  a  Prelude. 

2  Emerson  recognized  in  Whitman  a  semi-disciple,  and  publicly  wel 
comed  Leaves  of  Grass,  although  he  did  not  approve  of  its  coarser  parts. 

3  Song  of  Myself.  4  Ones-Self  I  Sing. 
6  Song  of  Myself.  6  Native  Moments. 


270      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

nature  was  too  narrow,  for  he  did  not  see  that  restraint, 
delicacy,  and  silence  are  as  natural  as  appetite,  frank 
ness,  and  speech.  But  in  justice  it  should  be  added 
that  his  protest  against  mere  prudery  needed  to  be  made 
and  is  in  accord  with  one  of  the  most  wholesome  influ 
ences  of  physical  science,  and  that  he,  has  said  noble 
things  about  woman,  particularly  in  this  picture  of  his 
mother :  — 

Behold  a  woman ! 

She  looks  out  from  her  Quaker  cap,  her  face  is  clearer  and  more 

beautiful  than  the  sky. 

She  sits  in  an  armchair  under  the  shaded  porch  of  the  farmhouse, 
The  sun  just  shines  on  her  old  white  head.  .  .  . 
The  melodious  character  of  the  earth, 
The  finish  beyond  which  philosophy  cannot  go  and  does  not  wish 

to  go, 
The  justified  mother  of  men.1 

Whitman  asserts  with  power  the  divinity  of  common 
things,  helping  one  to  realize  the  sacredness  of  our 
bodies  and  the  marvel  and  mystery  of  the  meanest  work 
of  the  Creator  :  — 

And  the  running  blackberry  would  adorn  the  parlors  of  heaven,  .  .  . 
And  a  mouse  is  miracle  enough  to  stagger  sextillions  of  infidels.2 

If  anything  is  sacred  the  human  body  is  sacred, 
And  the  glory  and  sweet  of  a  man  is  the  token  of  manhood  un 
tainted.3 

The  other  scientific  doctrine  that  profoundly  affected 
Whitman  is  Evolution,  which  he  accepted  in  its  most 
comprehensive  sense  as  an  inevitable  and  never-ending 
upward  movement  of  the  whole  universe.  Death  is 
only  transition,  one  of  many  steps  in  the  eternal 
progression :  — 

1  Faces.  2  Song  of  Myself.  8  /  Sing  the  Body  Electric, 


WALT   WHITMAN.  271 

If  I,  you,  and  the  worlds,  and  all  beneath  or  upon  their  surfaces, 

were  this  moment  reduced  back  to  a  pallid  float,  it  would  not 

avail  in  the  long  run, 

We  should  surely  bring  up  again  where  we  now  stand, 
And  surely  go  as  much  farther,  and  then  farther  and  farther.  .  .  . 
This  day  before  dawn  I  ascended  a  hill  and  looked  at  the  crowded 

heaven, 
And  I  said  to  my  spirit,  When  we  become  the  enfolders  of  those  orbs, 

and  the  pleasure  and  knowledge  of  everything  in  them,  shall 

we  be  Jilled  and  satisfied  then  ? 
And  my  spirit  said,  No,  we  but  level  that  lift  to  pass  and  continue 

beyond)- 

Whitman  rejected  rhyme,  metre,  and  other  conven 
tional  poetic  embellishments,  that  he  might  make  the 
very  form  of  his  message  reflect  the  novelty  of  its  spirit, 
although  he  had  profound  admiration  for  the  great 
poems  of  the  past,  standing  before  them,  he  says,  "with 
uncovered. head,  fully  aware  of  their  colossal  grandeur 
and  beauty."2  He  felt,  also,  that  for  him,  at  least, 
writing  upon  the  great  primal  facts  of  nature  and  human 
life  in  a  crude  New  World,  the  large  freedom  of  his 
lines  was  a  more  sincere  and  adequate  mode  of  expres 
sion  than  regular  metres  and  honeyed  rhymes.3  But 
the  amount  of  music  in  Whitman's  verse  is  usually 
underrated.  As  the  passion  rises,  the  style  also  rises, 

1  Song  of  Myself.     See   Out  of  the  Cradle  Endlessly  Rocking,  the  most 
beautiful  of  his  longer  poems,  and  When  Lilacs  last  in  the  Dooryard 
Bloomed,  for  thoughts  about  death. 

2  A  Backward   Glance  o'er   Travelled  Roads.     His   early  study  of 
Ossian  no  doubt  affected  him.      Among  his   Pieces  in  Early    Youth 
(see   the   complete  prose  works),  Blood-Money  and    Wounded  in  the 
House  of  Friends  are  written  in  irregular,  unrhymed  lines,  and  seem 
transitional  to  the  manner  of  Leaves  of  Grass.     Of  the  latter  he   says, 
with  unconscious  naivete,  "  I  had  great  trouble  in  leaving  out  the  stock 
•poetical '  touches,  but  succeeded  at  last."  —  Specimen  Days. 

3  See  Spirit  that  formed  This  Scene. 


272      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

oftentimes  into  a  magnificent  free  rhythm  and  a  large 
melody,  as  in  these  lines  upon  Lincoln's  funeral  train :  — 

With  the  pomp  of  the  inlooped   flags,  with   the  cities  draped  in 

black, 
With  the  show  of  the  States  themselves  as  of  crape-veiled  women 

standing,  .  .  . 
With  dirges  through  the  night,  with  the  thousand  voices   rising 

strong  and  solemn, 
With  all  the  mournful  voices  of  the  dirges  poured  around  the 

coffin, 
The  dim-lit  churches   and  the  shuddering  organs  —  where  amid 

these  you  journey, 

With  the  tolling,  tolling  bells'  perpetual  clang, 
Here,  coffin  that  slowly  passes, 
I  give  you  my  sprig  of  lilac.1 

Whitman's  diction  is  usually  idiomatic  and  strong;  not 
infrequently,  however,  it  becomes  labored  and  affected. 
He  had  almost  no  structural  power,  and  his  longer  poems 
are  mere  heaps.  But  in  the  word,  phrase,  and  paragraph 
he  showed  a  remarkable  descriptive  gift,  his  pictures 
pressing  almost  bodily  upon  the  eye.3  His  feeling  for 
humanity- was  broad,  deep,  and  robust,  if  not  of  the 
finest  texture.4  In  ranging  through  past,  present,  and 
future,  his  imagination  sometimes  takes  a  high  as  well 
as  a  wide  flight,  notably  in  Passage  to  India,  Prayer  of 

1  When  Lilacs  last  in  the  Dooryard  Bloomed.     See  the  whole  poem 
for  rhythms  of  various  kinds,  admirably  fitted  to  the  thought  or  feeling. 
Also  Out  of  the  Cradle  Endlessly  Rocking ;    With  Husky-Haughty  Lips, 
O  Sea  ;  and  many  more. 

2  Emigre,  loiigeve,  deific,  morbific,  harbinge,  arriere,  philosophs,  elh'e, 
and  similar  words  occur. 

3  See   Cavalry  Passing  a  Ford,  A  Paumanok  Picture,   and  Song  of 
Myself. 

4  See  Crossing  Brooklyn  Ferry,  The  City  Dead-House,  The  Wound- 
Dresser,  The  Singer  in  the  Prison,  You  Felons  on  Trial  in  Courts. 


HUMORISTS   AND    ORATORS.  273 

Columbus,  and  The  Mystic  Trumpeter.  As  a  poet  of 
nature,  especially  of  vast  areas,  the  night,  and  the  sea, 
he  is  superb  in  untamed  energy  and  large,  elemental, 
impassioned  imagination.  Other  American  sea-poems 
seem  puny  in  comparison  with  Patrolling  Barnegat,  To 
the  Man-of-  War  Bird,  and  With  Husky-Haughty  Lips, 
O  Sea. 

It  is  extravagant  to  call  Walt  Whitman  a  great  thinker 
or  seer.  He  lacked  spiritual  refinement,  and  he  did  not 
know  enough;  there  was  in  him,  at  least  in  earlier  years, 
something  of  the  rowdy,  and  his  "robustness"  is  partly 
swagger.  But  he  did  catch,  and  give  out  again  with 
peculiar  emphasis  and  sense  of  reality,  some  of  the 
largest  thoughts  of  his  day;  and  as  we  read  his  pages 
we  feel  the  "New  Spirit"  blowing  fresh  and  strong,  if 
somewhat  raw,  in  our  faces.  To  some  minds,  at  least, 
he  is  immensely  suggestive  and  stimulating.  He  was 
not  a  great  poet,  but  he  had  in  him  some  of  the  bones 
of  one;  and  he  may  be  accepted  as  a  crude  and  imper 
fect  prophecy,  a  hasty  first  sketch,  of  the  thoroughly 
great  American  poet  who  is  yet  to  be. 

Other  classes  of  literary  works  in  this  period  may  be 
treated  briefly,  because  they  either  are  of  small  worth  or 
do  not  belong  strictly  to  the  realm  of  pure  literature. 

The  Humorists  deserve  mention,  but  little  more. 
The  Life  and  Sayings  of  Mrs.  Partington  (1845),  by 
BENJAMIN  P.  SHILLABER  (1814-1890),  contains  good 
sense  and  knowledge  of  human  nature  as  well  as  con 
siderable  genuine  humor.  HENRY  W.  SHAW  (1818- 
1885),  in  Josh  Billings :  His  Book  (1866),  relied  in  part 
upon  misspelling  for  his  humor,  but  some  of  his  epi- 


274      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

grams  are  really  witty  and  shrewd.  The  Nasby  Papers 
(1864),  of  DAVID  R.  LOCKE  (1833-1888),  by  their 
humorous  satire  did  effective  work  for  the  Union  cause. 
CHARLES  F.  BROWNE  ("Artemus  Ward")  (1834-1867) 
owed  his  success  as  a  lecturer  in  the  United  States  and 
England  considerably  to  his  manner,  which  was  irre 
sistibly  solemn;  but  His  Book  (1863),  Travels  (1865), 
and  In  London  (1867)  are  full  of  "horse"  sense  and 
real  humor  of  the  broad  type.  These  humorists,  and 
their  like,  are,  however,  no  more  "American"  than 
Irving,  Lowell,  and  Holmes. 

The  Orators  deserve  a  volume  to  themselves,  for  this 
was  the  golden  age  of  American  oratory  as  well  as  of 
American  poetry  and  fiction.  Among  the  pulpit  orators 
three  were  preeminent.  WILLIAM  E.  CHANNING  (1780- 
1842),  the  leader  of  the  conservative  Unitarians,  won  the 
souls  of  men  by  the  sweetness  of  his  spirit  and  the  calm 
clearness  of  his  thought  and  style.  THEODORE  PARKER 
(1810-1860),  a  more  radical  Unitarian,  was  a  trumpeter 
who  loved  to  sound  the  call  to  battle  against  superstition 
and  slavery,  and  loud,  piercing,  strepitant  was  his  note. 
A  far  greater  orator  than  either  was  HENRY  WARD 
BEECHER  (1813-1887),  of  leonine  aspect,  who  "mobbed 
mobs  "  in  England,  and  compelled  a  hearing  there  for 
the  Union  side  in  the  early  days  of  the  Civil  War; 
for  many  years  he  poured  forth  from  the  pulpit  of 
"  Plymouth  Church  "  sermons  brilliant  in  thought,  full 
of  poetic  beauty,  rich  and  warm  with  the  love  of  God 
and  man.  In  Congress,  during  the  second  quarter  of 
the  century,  wrestled  three  giants.  JOHN  C.  CALHOUN 
(1782-1850),  of  South  Carolina,  was  perhaps  unequalled 
in  debate  —  cold,  keen,  logical,  quick  to  see  the  joint 


DANIEL   WEBSTER.  275 

in  his  opponent's  armor,  and  pitiless  in  thrusting  in  the 
lance.  The  constitutional  argument  for  the  right  of 
secession  received  its  perfection  at  his  hands.  HENRY 
CLAY  (1777-1852),  senator  from  Kentucky,  had  less 
logical  grip  but  more  charm.  His  personal  magnetism 
was  great,  and  hence  his  most  memorable  work  was  per 
suading  hostile  factions  into  various  compromises  upon 
slavery.  His  speeches  have  not  stood  well  the  test  of  cold 
print.  DANIEL  WEBSTER  l  is  America's  greatest  orator, 
and  one  of  the  great  orators  of  the  world.  His  majestic 
presence,  his  coal-black  eyes  glowing  under  cavernous 
brows,  his  tremendous  energy  (Sydney  Smith  called  him 
"a  steam-engine  in  breeches"),  his  massive  brain,  and 
his  large  utterance,  all  proclaimed  him  a  born  king  of 
men;  and  for  years,  despite  the  immorality  of  his  private 
life,  he  was  the  idol  of  New  England,  her  chosen  spokes 
man  in  Congress  and  on  impressive  public  occasions.  His 
first  great  speech  was  his  argument  in  the  famous  Dart 
mouth  College  case;  other  men  have  surpassed  him  in 
legal  erudition,  but  for  combination  of  eloquence  with 
mastery  of  the  broad  principles  of  law  he  is  still  our 

1  LIFE.  Born  at  Salisbury,  N.  H.,  Jan  18,  1782;  descended  from 
Thomas  Webster,  of  Scotch  ancestry,  who  settled  in  New  Hampshire  in 
1636 ;  graduated  at  Dartmouth  College,  1801 ;  admitted  to  the  bar,  1805  ; 
for  several  years  practised  law  in  Portsmouth;  married,  1808  ;  represen 
tative  from  New  Hampshire,  1813-1815;  removed  to  Boston,  1816; 
representative  from  Massachusetts,  1823-1827 ;  senator  from  Massachu 
setts,  1827-1841 ;  married  a  second  time,  1829 ;  secretary  of  state,  1841- 
1843;  senator  from  Massachusetts,  1845-1852 ;  died  at  Marshfield,  Mass., 
Oct.  24,  1852. 

ORATIONS.  Dartmouth  College  case,  1818.  Plymouth  oration,  1820. 
Address  at  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of  Bunker  Hill  Monument, 
1825.  Funeral  oration  on  Adams  and  Jefferson,  1826.  Reply  to  Hayne, 
1830.  Argument  in  the  White  murder  case,  1830.  Address  at  the  com 
pletion  of  Bunker  Hill  Monument,  1843.  Seventh  of  March  speech. 
1850.  Etc. 


276      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1815    TO    1870. 

greatest  lawyer,  although  RUFUS  CHOATE  (1799-1859) 
had  more  brilliancy  of  an  erratic  sort.  Webster's  fame 
as  an  "occasional  "  orator  rests  upon  his  Plymouth  ora 
tion,  the  two  Bunker  Hill  Monument  orations,  and  the 
oration  upon  Adams  and  Jefferson;  it  is  sufficient  praise 
to  say  that  he  made  great  occasions  greater  by  his  pres 
ence  and  words.  His  eloquence  reached  its  height 
in  his  speeches  in  the  United  States  Senate,  above  all 
in  the  reply  to  Hayne,  which  remains  the  supreme  con 
stitutional  and  historical  argument  for  national  unity. 
Twenty  years  later,  by  his  Seventh  of  March  speech,  he 
lost  the  confidence  of  the  North,  which  accused  him  of 
"selling  out  to  the  South  "  through  ambition  to  be  Presi 
dent,  a  verdict  which  the  cooler  judgment  of  a  later  gen 
eration  has  seen  reason  to  reverse.  The  eloquence  of 
Webster  was  of  the  stately,  massive  type,  carrying  in  its 
bosom  a  deep  glow  of  conviction  and  large  passion;  his 
style  is  plain  and  strong,  often  sonorous,  sometimes 
heavy;  his  thought,  clear  and  logical;  the  total  effect, 
Olympian.  His  mind  was,  however,  of  limited  range 
compared  with  that  of  Cicero  or  Burke,  and  had 
less  flexibility  and  richness;  his  one  great  idea  was  the 
Union,  as  the  means  of  preserving  and  enlarging  the 
splendid  inheritance  bequeathed  to  us  by  the  founders 
of  the  Republic.  The  typical  academic  orator  of  this 
period  was  EDWARD  EVERETT  (1794-1865),  Congress 
man,  governor  of  Massachusetts,  minister  to  England, 
and  president  of  Harvard  College;  he  was  elegant  in 
manner,  finished  though  prolix  in  style,  and  rather  too 
fond  of  extempore  effects  carefully  prepared.  ABRAHAM 
LINCOLN  (1809-1865),  a  great  debater,  as  his  campaign 
struggle  with  STEPHEN  A.  DOUGLAS  (1813-1861)  proved. 


THE    HISTORIANS.  277 

has  left  one  masterpiece  of  brief,  pregnant  political 
oratory,  in  the  purest  English,  his  address  at  the  dedi 
cation  of  the  Gettysburg  monument.  WENDELL  PHILLIPS 
(1811-1884),  the  great  orator  of  the  abolition  cause,  was 
not  a  Thor's  hammer,  like  Webster,  but  a  Damascus 
blade,  graceful,  rapid,  flashing,  with  a  terrible  cutting- 
edge.  In  sarcasm  and  invective  he  was  unsurpassed, 
and  his  presence  and  style  were  those  of  a  gentleman 
and  an  aristocrat.  His  exaggeration,  mental  reckless 
ness,  and  comparative  poverty  of  thought,  however, 
prevent  his  printed  speeches  from  standing  high  as  lit 
erature.  Webster's  successor  in  the  Senate,  CHARLES 
SUMNER  (1811-1874),  of  cold  and  egotistic  personality 
but  of  high  principles  and  stainless  integrity,  in  his 
somewhat  labored  orations  also  fought  a  courageous 
fight  for  freedom  and  national  honor.  GEORGE  W. 
CURTIS  (1824-1892),  whose  charming  essays  and  other 
writings  merit  more  than  this  passing  reference,  in  his 
political,  anniversary,  and  biographical  addresses  pre 
sented  a  rare  combination  of  the  orator,  man  of  letters, 
and  "scholar  in  politics." 

The  works  of  several  Historians  have  so  much  literary 
merit  that  they  cannot  be  passed  by  wholly  without 
mention  here.  WILLIAM  H.  PRESCOTT  (1796-1859),  in 
spite  of  partial  blindness,  produced  memorable  histories; 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella  (1837),  The  Conquest  of  Mexico 
(1843),  and  The  Conquest  of  Peru  (1847),  dealing  with 
some  of  the  most  romantic  events  in  the  world's  annals, 
combine  much  patient  labor  with  a  luminous  and  enter 
taining  style.  The  History  of  the  United  States,1  by 

1  In  ten  volumes,  appearing  seriatim  in  1834,  1837,  1840,  1852,  1853, 
1854,  1858,  1860,  1866,  1874 ;  revised  edition,  in  six  volumes,  1883-1885. 


278      THE    LITERATURE    FROM    1870   TO    1900. 

GEORGE  BANCROFT  (1800-1891),  secretary  of  the  navy, 
and  minister  to  Great  Britain  and  Germany,  has  less 
charm  of  manner,  and  the  earlier  volumes  are  marred 
by  a  somewhat  turgid  Americanism;  but  it  embodies  an 
immense  amount  of  careful  labor  and  research.  JOHN 
LOTHROP  MOTLEY  (1814-1877),  minister  to  Austria  and 
England,  is  the  most  dramatic  of  our  historians,  like 
Carlyle  laying  much  emphasis  upon  great  personalities 
and  their  influence  in  shaping  history;  The  Rise  of  the 
Dutch  Republic  (1865)  and  The  History  of  the  United 
Netherlands  (1860-1868)  are  more  brilliant  in  style 
than  Bancroft's  writings,  and  deeper  than  Prescott's. 
FRANCIS  PARKMAN  (1823-1893),  in  spite  of  an  affection 
of  the  eyes,  wrote  voluminously  *  and  with  great  thor 
oughness  upon  the  discovery  of  the  West  by  early  ex 
plorers  and  upon  the  struggle  between  Great  Britain  and 
France  for  supremacy  in  North  America;  his  style, 
though  perhaps  too  high-colored  at  times,  is  pictur 
esque  and  powerful,  and  his  books  are  nothing  less  than 
fascinating.  All  these  historians  were  of  New  England 
birth,  and  contributed  in  no  small  degree  to  the  literary 
preeminence  of  that  section  during  the  period  to  which 
they  belonged. 

3.    THE   LITERATURE   FROM   1870  to   1900. 

The  time  has  not  yet  come  to  discuss  in  detail  the 
writings  of  authors  whose  literary  activity  falls  wholly  or 

i  The  California  and  Oregon  Trail,  1849.  The  History  of  the  Con 
spiracy  of  Pontiac,  1851.  Pioneers  of  France  in  the  New  World,  1865. 
The  Jesuits  in  North  America  in  the  Seventeenth  Century,  1867.  La 
Salle :  or  the  Discovery  of  the  Great  West,  1869.  The  Old  Regime  in 
Canada,  1874.  Count  Frontenac  and  New  PYance  under  Louis  XIV., 
1877.  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  1884.  Etc. 


GENERAL   CONDITIONS.  279 

chiefly  within  the  last  thirty  years  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  An  indication  of  general  tendencies  and  a 
tentative  appraisal  of  the  more  conspicuous  or  more 
representative  writers  are  all  that  can  now  be  justly 
attempted. 

Since  the  close  of  the  Rebellion  the  population  and 
wealth  of  the  nation  have  advanced  at  a  prodigious  pace. 
Immigration  on  an  immense  scale  and  the  natural  in 
crease  of  a  prolific  people  have  caused  the  cities  of  the 
East  and  Centre  to  grow  very  rapidly  and  have  covered 
the  vast  West  and  Northwest  with  a  hardy,  industrious 
population,  so  that  the  census  for  1900  will  doubt 
less  show  a  total  of  more  than  seventy  million  inhab 
itants.  The  national  wealth  is  now  reckoned  in  many 
billions  of  dollars,  most  of  it  still  in  the  hands  of  the 
masses,  although  multi-millionaires  are  numerous  and 
plutocracy  is  a  growing  menace.  The  Centennial  Ex 
position  of  1876  and  the  Columbian  Exposition  of  1893 
were  mammoth  ledgers  in  which  were  "writ  large  "  the 
records  of  the  nation's  colossal  business  at  home  and 
abroad.  Politically,  the  salient  facts  of  the  generation 
have  been  the  rise  of  the  New  South,  without  slavery; 
the  increased  venality  in  public  life,  especially  in  large 
cities,  accompanied  by  an  encouraging  reaction  on  the 
part  of  the  best  elements  in  American  society  against 
this  vice  of  prosperous  republics;  the  steady  growth  in 
the  strength  and  prestige  of  the  national  government  at 
the  expense  of  the  state  governments;  the  admission  of 
several  territories  to  statehood;  and,  as  a  result  of  the 
war  with  Spain,  the  acquisition  of  an  extensive  archi 
pelago  in  the  Old  World,  with  the  new  foreign  policy 
which  these  possessions  and  our  rapidly  increasing  ex- 


280      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1870   TO    1900. 

port  trade  necessarily  involve.  Wisely  or  unwisely,  the 
United  States  has  stepped  out  of  its  century-long  isola 
tion  into  the  larger  politics  of  the  world;  ever  to  step 
back  again  seems  impossible,  and  our  new  world-rela 
tions  must  sooner  or  later  exert  a  powerful  influence,  for 
good  or  for  ill,  upon  the  national  life  and  literature. 
Meanwhile,  many  tendencies  of  the  time  are  clearly 
making  toward  a  higher  civilization.  The  practical 
applications  of  science,  electricity  in  particular;  im 
provements  in  diet,  dress,  and  sanitation;  the  athletic 
spirit,  driving  the  student  and  the  rich  man's  sons  and 
daughters  into  healthful  sports  in  the  open  air;  the 
magnificent  endowments  of  great  universities,  which, 
borrowing  elements  from  both  the  English  and  the  Ger 
man  systems,  are  working  toward  an  educational  ideal 
perhaps  superior  to  either  and  certainly  better  adapted 
to  American  conditions;  the  rise  of  a  noble  architecture, 
more  especially  in  churches,  university  buildings,  and 
public  libraries;  the  growth  of  the  taste  for  art  and  of 
promising  schools  of  artists;  the  efforts  of  thoughtful 
men  in  all  our  churches  to  readjust  religious  habitudes 
to  the  needs  of  modern  times,  — all  this  means  much  for 
the  health,  intelligence,  charm,  and  spirituality  of 
American  life  and  literature  in  the  twentieth  century. 
Although  we  have  no  authors  equal  in  caliber  to 
the  greater  writers  of  the  middle  of  the  century,  the 
average  of  talent  and  the  standard  of  workman 
ship  are  higher  than  ever  before.  The  number  of 
men  and  women  who  can  write  excellent  fiction  and 
finished  verse  is  surprisingly  large,  and  the  literary 
quality  of  our  best  magazines  would  do  credit  to 
any  period  of  English  literature.  A  second  conspic- 


GENERAL    LITERARY   TENDENCIES.         281 

uous  fact  is  the  preeminence  of  the  Short  Story.  The 
reasons  for  the  popularity  of  this  form  of  prose  fic 
tion  throughout  the  modern  world  are  apparent.  Books 
are  cheap,  the  reading  habit  is  general,  the  mass  of 
readers  want  easy  reading,  and  short  stories  require  even 
less  mental  effort  than  novels.  Our  ancestors  had  leisure 
for  Clarissa  Harlowe ;  we  live  on  the  jump,  and  need 
something  short  enough  to  be  read  between  jumps.  The 
same  high  tension  of  life  has  begotten,  furthermore,  a 
semi-artistic  impatience  of  padding  and  dawdling.  All 
these  conditions  reach  their  extreme  in  America,  which 
has,  therefore,  naturally  made  the  short  story  peculiarly 
its  own.  Still  another  large  feature  of  contemporary 
American  literature,  in  prose  and  verse,  is  Realism. 
This  also  is  a  general  tendency  of  modern  times,  spring 
ing  from  the  scientific  temper  with  its  passion  for  accu 
racy  and  truth  and  its  belief  that  there  is  nothing  more 
wonderful  or  worthy  of  study  than  the  common  things 
that  lie  all  about  us.  American  realism,  however, 
although  it  has  been  strongly  influenced  by  European, 
particularly  by  French  and  Russian,  has  freely  utilized 
the  romantic  materials  of  life  in  the  South  and  West; 
and  in  a  country  where  Anglo-Saxon  ideas  of  morality 
still  rule,  and  the  "Young  Person"  reads  the  same  lit 
erature  that  adults  read,  even  realistic  fiction  has  neces 
sarily  avoided  certain  phases  of  the  realism  of  Zola 
and  Tolstoi.  Finally,  much  of  recent  American  litera 
ture  has  a  distinctive  flavor,  because,  while  it  is  more 
cosmopolitan  than  ever  before  in  the  sense  of  being  open 
to  world-wide  influences,  its  material  is  American  and 
even  provincial.  Local  conditions  in  North,  South, 
and  West  have  been  studied  as  through  a  microscope, 


282      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1870   TO    1900. 

and  scenery,  customs,  character,  dialect,  legends,  super 
stitions,  and  neighborhood  history  have  been  portrayed 
with  truth,  freshness,  and  power.  This  is,  of  course,  in 
part  the  result  of  the  spirit  of  realism,  which  finds  its 
literary  material  in  the  common  and  near.  The  demand 
for  short  stories  has  tended  in  the  same  direction,  neigh 
borhood  life  furnishing  many  incidents  admirably 
adapted  for  such  handling  although  quite  insufficient 
for  long  novels.  The  lack  of  a  literary  metropolis,  which 
should  be  to  the  United  States  what  London  is  to  Great 
Britain  and  Paris  to  France,  has  also  favored  diversity 
in  matter  and  manner.  New  England  has  lost  what  pre 
eminence  it  had.  Our  men  of  letters  work  each  by 
himself  or  in  literary  centres  far  apart  in  space  and 
widely  different  in  traditions  and  temper.  The  disad 
vantages  of  this  state  of  things  are  obvious;  but  the 
advantages,  in  cultivating  independence  and  originality, 
and  in  allowing  many  sides  of  our  diversified  life  and 
many  kinds  of  talent  to  manifest  themselves  in  litera 
ture,  are  probably  greater  at  this  stage  of  our  artistic 
development.  We  are  in  effect  carrying  on  a  series  of 
experiments  on  a  large  scale;  in  some  of  these  literary 
laboratories  scattered  over  the  land  may  be  discovered 
the  philosopher's  stone  and  the  elixir  of  life.  At  all 
events,  if  we  are  ever  to  have  a  more  unitary  literature, 
an  expression  of  the  life  of  the  nation  as  a  whole,  these 
preliminary  studies  of  its  constituent  parts  will  be  of 
great  value.  To  these  causes  should  be  added  an  in 
creased  feeling  of  independence,  the  natural  result  of 
maturity  and  rapidly  expanding  power.  We  care  rela 
tively  less  for  the  censure  or  the  approval  of  Europe; 
without  the  swagger  and  shallow  conceit  which,  in  the 


NORTHERN   WRITERS.  283 

heyday  of  our  national  youth,  went  hand  in  hand  with 
excessive  sensitiveness  to  foreign  opinion,  we  are  now 
rather  amused  than  irritated  by  Old  World  condescen 
sion,  feeling  that  if  we  have  much  to  learn  we  also  have 
somewhat  to  teach.  Emerson's  words  may  now  be 
changed  into  the  present  tense:  we  walk  on  our  own 
feet;  we  work  with  our  own  hands;  we  speak  our  own 
minds.1 

Among  contemporary  Northern  writers  THOMAS  B. 
ALDRICH  (1836-  )  is  deservedly  prominent.  He  is 
the  author  of  one  of  the  most  charming  and  wholesome 
boys'  books  ever  written;  his  short  stories  are  very 
bright,  and  touch  life  on  many  sides;  the  novels  are  less 
successful,  although  they  have  the  author's  unfailing 
vivacity  and  finish.  Mr.  Aldrich's  verse  is  as  faultless 
in  technique  as  Tennyson's,  and  shows  a  Keats-like 
love  of  sensuous  beauty;  but  it  lacks  originality  and 
largeness  of  imagination.  The  poems  of  EDMUND  C. 
STEDMAN  (1833-  )  have  finish  and  restrained  force, 
with  fine  humor,  fancy,  and  feeling;  as  a  whole  they 
can  never  be  popular,  although  a  few  of  the  spirited 
war  lyrics  have  gained  a  wide  hearing.  Mr.  Stedman's 
later  work  has  been  chiefly  literary  criticism,  for  which 
he  is  singularly  fitted  by  his  wide  knowledge,  fine  yet 
catholic  taste,  and  judicial  temper.  WILLIAM  D. 
HowELLS  (1837-  ),  our  foremost  novelist  resident 
in  America,  under  the  influence  of  Tolstoi  has  travelled 
far  along  the  road  of  realism  and  social  reform.  He 
has  a  remarkable  gift  at  so  portraying  half-unconscious 
meanness  or  weakness  of  character  that  the  reader  is 
made  aware  of  similar  tendencies  in  himself  and  thor- 
1  See  pp.  202-203. 


284      THE   LITERATURE   FROM    1870   TO    1900. 

oughly  ashamed  of  them.  All  Mr.  Howells's  work  is 
characterized  by  thoughtfulness,  keen  observation  of 
human  nature,  and  literary  neatness  and  point;  but  it 
will  not  be  surprising  if  his  rather  depressing  realistic 
studies  are  outlived  by  his  more  beautiful  earlier  sketches 
and  by  his  charming  little  farces.  HENRY  JAMES 
(1843-  ),  who  has  long  lived  abroad,  writes  much 
upon  the  American  in  Europe.  In  his  own  way  he  also 
is  a  realist,  analyzing  character  and  motives  with  great 
precision  and  subtlety;  his  portraits  have  the  fineness 
and  microscopic  finish  of  a  steel  engraving;  his  style  is 
quietly  vivacious,  and  abounds  in  happily  turned  phrases; 
but  one  cannot  read  long  in  James  without  wishing  for 
broader  horizons  and  a  freer  stride.  Of  the  numerous 
other  Northern  writers  of  fiction  mention  can  be  made 
of  only  a  few:  EDWARD  E.  HALE  (1822-  ),  some  of 
whose  stories  have  long  been  classic;  FRANK  R.  STOCK 
TON  (1834-  ),  with  his  pleasant  knack  at  getting 
his  characters  into  ludicrous  situations  by  a  series  of 
perfectly  natural  steps;  ELIZABETH  PHELPS  WARD 
(1844-  ),  who  cannot  be  other  than  bright,  femi 
nine,  and  intense;  MARY  E.  WILKINS  (1862-  ),  a  sure- 
handed  water-color  painter  of  the  more  neutral  tints  in 
New  England  life;  and  the  versatile  S.  WEIR  MITCHELL 
(1829-  ),  author  of  a  successful  novel  on  the  Ameri 
can  Revolution.  Among  the  essayists,  CHARLES  D. 
WARNER  (1829-  ),  of  refined  yet  vigorous  humor  and 
easy  familiarity  with  men  and  things,  and  AGNES  REP- 
PLIER  (1855-  ),  whose  piquant  satire  amuses  if  it  does 
not  convince,  write  what  is  readable,  which  is  a  good 
deal  to  say  of  essays.  JOHN  BURROUGHS  (1837-  ), 
a  more  polished  but  tamer  Thoreau,  knows  nature 


WESTERN   WRITERS.  285 

minutely,  and  his  sketches  are  charming  and  restful. 
The  minor  poets  are  legion;  RICHARD  H.  STODDARD 
(1825-  ),  LUCY  LARCOM  (1826-1893),  EMMA  LAZ 
ARUS  (1849-1887),  JOHN  B.  O'REILLY  (1844-1890), 
CELIA  L.  THAXTER  (1835-1894),  and  LOUISE  C.  MOULTON 
may  be  named  as  representative.  A  rarer  vein  is  that 
of  EMILY  DICKINSON  (1830-1886),  whose  condensed 
little  poems  on  nature  and  life  startle  and  stab  by  their 
erratic  originality  of  thought  and  phrase.  EDWARD  R. 
SILL  (1841-1887),  a  native  of  New  England  although 
long  resident  in  the  West,  had  high  poetic  gifts  —  sweet 
flow  of  verse,  originality  in  phrase  and  images,  passion 
with  spirituality,  and  fresh,  bright  beauty  in  handling 
themes  from  classic  mythology. 

The  Western  writers  have  brought  into  American 
literature  much  that  is  breezy  and  fresh.  JOHN  PIATT 
(l835~  )  and  his  wife  (1836-  )  sing  beautifully  of 
farm  life  in  the  Ohio  Valley.  JOHN  HAY  (1838-  )  in 
his  ballads  paints  with  vigor  some  of  the  rougher  types 
of  Western  character.  ED^WARP  EGGLESTON  (1837-  ) 
in  his  "Hoosier"  novels  has  drawn  vivid  pictures 
of  the  earlier  days  in  Indiana.  The  poems  of  JAMES 
W.  RILEY  (1852-  ),  chiefly  in  the  Hoosier  dia 
lect,  are  brimful  of  humor,  pathos,  human  kindliness, 
rich  love  of  nature,  and  spontaneous  lyric  melody. 
MAURICE  THOMSON  (1844-  )  and  EDITH  THOMAS 
(1854-  )  have  the  true  wildwood  note  in  their  poems 
of  nature.  EUGENE  FIELD  (1850-1895)  has  written  a  few 
touching  child  poems.  LEWIS  WALLACE  (1827-  )  is 
the  author  of  several  ambitious  historical  novels,  which 
are  vivid  but  too  high-colored.  HELEN  H.  JACKSON 
("H.  H.")  (1831-1885),  of  Eastern  birth,  a  writer  of 


286      THE    LITERATURE   FROM    1870   TO    1900. 

beautiful  verse,  is  most  widely  known  by  her  prose  fiction 
on  behalf  of  the  Indians.  A  more  voluminous  poet  than 
any  of  the  preceding  is  CINCINNATUS  H.  MILLER  ("  Joa- 
quin  Miller  ")  (1841-  ),  the  "  Oregon  Byron,"  whose 
poems  on  life  in  the  far  West  have  fire,  color,  and  dash, 
although  they  are  deficient  in  sterling  poetic  worth. 
FRANCIS  BRET  HARTE  (1839-  )  nas  made  a  brilliant 
reputation  in  America  and  Europe  by  his  stories  and 
verse,  which  deal  chiefly  with  incidents  and  characters 
on  the  Pacific  slope.  His  pictures  of  rough  mining  life, 
in  particular,  are  remarkable  for  vividness,  pathos,  and 
revelation  of  a  soul  of  goodness  in  evil  men.  The 
greatest  writer  of  the  West  is  SAMUEL  L.  CLEMENS 
(^ Mark_Twai n  " )  (1835-  ),  a  native  of  Missouri,  a 
printer,  a  Mississippi  river  pilot,  a  resident  of  Nevada, 
California,  Hawaii,  and  Hartford,  and  a  traveller  in 
many  lands.  His  best  work  has  originality  and  imagi 
nation  in  high  degree.  His  books  wholly  or  chiefly 
humorous  contain  much  that  is  flat,  stale,  and  unprofit 
able,  although  their  large  vigor  and  genuine  gift  of 
broad  humor  give  them  vitality.  But  in  those  describ 
ing  life  on  the  Mississippi  River,  he  sketches  scenery, 
customs,  social  conditions,  and  human  nature  (including 
boy  nature)  with  a  large,  free,  true  hand,  his  humor  is 
at  its  best,  and  the  style  flows  on  with  the  ease  and 
power  of  the  Great  River  itself.  The  other  group  of  his 
better  works  handle  historical  themes  taken  from  the 
Old  World,  and  reveal  an  historical  imagination  and 
a  finish  of  manner  hardly  to  be  expected  in  the  author  of 
the  rougher  books.  In  all,  Mr.  Clemens  is  a  robust 
American  and  democrat,  perhaps  a  little  "robustious" 
at  times  ;  he  stands  squarely  on  his  own  feet,  gazes 


SOUTHERN   WRITERS.  287 

unabashed  upon  the  wonders  of  the  Old  World,  and 
shows  by  some  of  his  powerful  pictures  how  wretched 
was  the  condition  of  the  common  people  in  days 
idealized  by  historian  and  poet.  Time  will  winnow 
much  chaff  from  his  pages,  but  much  of  great  merit  will 
remain: 

There  is  a  literary  New  South,  no  less  than  a  political 
and  industrial  one,  and  the  literature  which  has  sprung 
up  in  that  region  since  the  war  is  not  only  interesting 
and  novel  but  contains  high   promise    for  the  future. 
Never  before  have  the    beauty,  passion,  romance,  and 
picturesqueness  of  Southern  character  and  life  received 
so  noble  and  diversified  expression  in  letters.     SIDNEY 
LANIER  (1849-1881),  of  Georgia,  —  soldier,  teacher,  law 
student,  magazine  writer,  and  lecturer  on  English  litera 
ture  at  Johns  Hopkins  University,  —  is  second  only  to 
Poe  among  Southern  poets.     His  versification  sometimes 
falls    into   excessive   intricacy  and  mere    caprice,   and 
his   thought  occasionally  fades  away   into   inarticulate 
dreamery.     But  these  errors  are  only  the  defects  of  his 
virtues.     A   man   of    the    finest    sensitiveness    without 
effeminacy,   and  a  skilled  musician,  he  has   produced 
dreamy,  floating,  mist-like,  musical  effects  that  are  new 
in  English  verse  ;  and  his  feeling  for  nature,  especially 
for  wood  and  marsh  life  as  seen  in  parts  of  the  South,  is 
thoroughly  modem  in  its  union   of    exact  observation 
with  imaginative  subtlety.    Lanier  had  also  a  keen  intel 
lect,  as  appears  from  his  original  and  suggestive  books 
on  versification  and  the  novel.     Had  he  lived  to  develop 
his  gifts  fully,  he  might  have  come  to  be  numbered  with 
the  foremost  American  poets;  as  it  is  he  stands  only  a 
little  lower  and  in  a  secure  place  of  his  own.     Fiction, 


288      THE   LITERATURE   FROM    1870  TO    1900. 

particularly  the  short  story,  has  been  the  favorite  liter 
ary  form  of  most  of  the  recent  Southern  writers. 
FRANCES  H.  BURNETT  (1849-  )>  of  English  birth 
but  a  resident  of  America  since  girlhood,  is  famous  as 
the  creator  of  Little  Lord  Fauntleroy.  Louisiana  life, 
especially  among  the  Creoles,  has  been  realistically  yet 
poetically  portrayed  by  GEORGE  W.  CABLE  (1844-  ); 
whether  or  not  his  books  present  the  exceptional  as  the 
usual  (as  is  affirmed),  they  have  enriched  our  literature 
with  pictures  full  of  romance,  pathos,  and  dramatic 
intensity,  and  they  have  at  least  some  historical  value 
as  records  of  a  social  regime  now  vanished  forever. 
RICHARD  M.  JOHNSTON  (1822-  )  in  a  homely  and 
humorous  way  describes  admirably  sundry  typical  Georgia 
scenes  and  characters.  MARY  N.  MURFREE,  whose  pseu 
donym  ("Charles  E.  Craddock")  and  masculine  style 
at  first  deceived  every  one  as  to  her  sex,  paints  life  and 
scenery  among  the  mountains  of  Tennessee  with  re 
markable  vigor  and  beauty.  FRANCIS  H.  SMITH 
(1838-  )  has  given  an  inimitable  sketch  of  one  type 
of  the  Southern  gentleman  in  Colonel  Carter  of  Carters- 
ville.  Virginia  life  glows  on  the  pages  of  THOMAS  N. 
PAGE  (1853-  ),  who  depicts  with  great  beauty  and 
pathos  the  relations  of  old  negro  servants  to  "marse" 
and  "missis."  JAMES  L.  ALLEN  writes,  with  a  poet's 
sensuousness,  of  nature  and  passion  in  luxuriant  Ken 
tucky.  JOEJL.  GLJJARRIS,  (1848-  )  has  made  a  per 
manent  contribution  to  the  literature  of  folklore  by  his 
charming  versions  of  negro  animal-myths  as  told  by 
Uncle  Remus.  The  \legro  race  speaks  directly  in  the 
poems  and  stories  of  PAUL  L.  DUNBAR  (1872-  ),  who 
is  one  herald,  it  may  be  hoped,  of  a  higher  intellectual 


CONCLUSION.  289 

and  artistic  life  for  a  long-oppressed  people.  WINSTON 
CHURCHILL,  in  his  portrait  of  Richard  Carvel  and  his 
picture  of  life  in  Maryland  and  England  in  Revolution 
ary  days,  has  produced  one  of  the  finest  historical  novels 
of  the  century,  in  many  respects  a  worthy  successor  to 
Thackeray's  Henry  Esmond,  which  it  somewhat  resem 
bles. 


This  imperfect  record  of  three  centuries  of  literature 
in  America  may  profitably  conclude  with  a  backward 
glance  over  the  entire  tract  which  has  been  traversed,  and 
with  a  forecast,  necessarily  tentative  and  vague,  of  that 
which  lies  yet  unrevealed.  Upon  a  broad  survey,  three 
stages  in  the  historical  development  of  American  litera 
ture  become  manifest.  The  first  stage,  lasting  some  two 
hundred  years,  was  that  of  crude  or  feeble  Imitation  of 
English  Models.  The  writings  usually  had  little  artistic 
merit,  and  the  intrinsic  interest  of  the  subject-matter 
grew  less  rather  than  greater  as  the  years  went  on ;  there 
was,  however,  a  fairly  steady  improvement  in  clearness 
and  ease  of  style.  The  second  stage,  extending  through 
about  two-thirds  of  the  nineteenth  century,  was  preemi 
nently  that  of  English  Culture  in  American  Soil.  Barren 
imitation  gave  place  to  absorption  and  free  reproduction. 
Distinctively  American  elements,  in  style,  subject,  and 
point  of  view,  also  became  a  larger  part  of  the  whole. 
But  English  literary  traditions,  often  those  of  the  eigh 
teenth  century,  underlay  most  of  the  best  American  lit 
erature  of  the  period.  Continental  culture  also  exerted 
a  strong  influence,  the  deepest  impress  being  made  by 
the  poetry  and  philosophy  of  Germany.  The  third  stage, 


290       THE  LITERATURE  FROM  1870  TO  1900. 

not  yet  completed,  is  one  of  Transition,  Experiment,  and 
a  New  Spirit,  a  spirit  more  independent,  more  bold,  some 
times  more  rash  and  crude,  but  on  the  whole  cherishing 
all  that  was  best  in  the  literary  ideals  of  the  past,  while 
reaching  out,  often  blindly,  after  new  sources  of  power 
and  new  methods  of  giving  effective  expression  to  the  life 
of  the  Present  in  America.  What  will  be  the  final  issue 
remains  to  be  seen.  The  best  literature  yet  produced  in 
the  New  World  is  that  which  was  dominated  by  the  cul 
ture  of  the  Old  World.  But  the  prophecy  may  be  haz 
arded  that  if  America  ever  achieves  supreme  excellence 
in  any  form  of  art,  it  will  be  by  giving  freest  and  fullest 
expression  to  her  own  life.  This  is  not  saying  that  the 
great  American  poet  will  write  in  an  obscure  dialect  and 
the  great  American  novelist  confine  his  studies  to  pork- 
packers,  mining-camps,  and  ignorant  mountaineers.  The 
truest  Americanism,  instead  of  being  limited  to  what  is 
peculiar  to  America,  includes  the  entire  life  of  the  Ameri 
can  people,  what  they  have  in  common  with  England, 
Europe,  and  the  world,  as  well  as  what  they  have  alone. 
Americanism  of  this  sort  may  be  made  the  basis  of  a 
great  literature ;  and  such  a  literature  would  be  appre 
ciably  different  from  that  of  any  other  country,  for  physi 
cal  conditions,  political  institutions,  and  the  mingling  of 
many  powerful  or  talented  races  are  combining  to  pro 
duce  in  North  America  a  new  type  of  man.  An  Ameri 
can  literature  which,  while  courageously  welcoming  all 
good  influences  from  abroad,  at  the  core  remains  true,  in 
form  and  spirit,  to  the  life  of  the  Great  Republic  may  yet 
become  one  of  the  sublime  literatures  of  the  world. 


APPENDIX. 


A. 


EXTRACTS    FROM    COLONIAL    AND   REVOLU 
TIONARY   LITERATURE. 

JOHN  SMITH. 
The  Rescue  by  Pocahontas. 

At  last  they  brought  him  [Smith]  to  Meronocomoco,  where 
was  Powhatan  their  Emperor.  Here  more  then  two  hundred 
of  those  grim  Courtiers  stood  wondering  at  him,  as  he  had 
beene  a  monster ;  till  Powhatan  and  his  trayne  had  put  them- 
selues  in  their  greatest  braveries.  Before  a  fire  vpon  a  seat 
like  a  bedsted,  he  sat  covered  with  a  great  robe,  made  of 
Rarowcun  skinnes,  and  all  the  tayles  hanging  by.  On  either 
hand  did  sit  a  young  wench  of  1 6  or  1 8  yeares,  and  along  on 
each  side  the  house,  two  rowes  of  men,  and  behind  them  as 
many  women,  with  all  their  heads  and  shoulders  painted  red ; 
many  of  their  heads  bedecked  with  the  white  downe  of 
Birds ;  but  every  one  with  something :  and  a  great  chayne 
of  white  beads  about  their  necks.  At  his  entrance  before  the 
King,  all  the  people  gaue  a  great  shout.  The  Queene  of 
Appamatuck  was  appointed  to  bring  him  water  to  wash  his 
hands,  and  another  brought  him  a  bunch  of  feathers,  in  stead 
of  a  Towell  to  dry  them :  having  feasted  him  after  their  best 
barbarous  manner  they  could,  a  long  consultation  was  held, 
but  the  conclusion  was,  two  great  stones  were  brought  before 
Powhatan  :  then  as  many  as  could  layd  hands  on  him,  dragged 
him  to  them,  and  thereon  laid  his  head,  and  being  ready  with 
their  clubs,  to  beate  out  his  braines,  Pocahontas  the  Kings 
dearest  daughter,  when  no  intreaty  could  prevaile,  got  his 
head  in  her  armes,  and  laid  her  owne  vpon  his  to  saue  him 
from  death  :  whereat  the  Emperour  was  contented  he  should 
Hue  to  make  him  hatchets,  and  her  bells,  beads,  and  copper. 
—  Historic  of  Virginia,  pp.  48,  49,  ed.  1624. 

293 


294  APPENDIX. 

WILLIAM  BYRD. 
The  Pilot  Louse. 

In  the  meantime  the  three  commissioners  returned  out  of 
the  Dismal  [Swamp]  the  same  way  they  went  in,  and,  having 
joined  their  brethren,  proceeded  that  night  as  far  as  Mr.  Wil 
son's.  ...  He  told  us  a  Canterbury  tale  of  a  North  Briton, 
whose  curiosity  spurred  him  a  long  way  into  this  great  desert, 
as  he  called  it,  near  twenty  years  ago,  but  he  having  no  com 
pass,  nor  seeing  the  sun  for  several  days  together,  wandered 
about  till  he  was  almost  famished ;  but  at  last  he  bethought 
himself  of  a  secret  his  countrymen  make  use  of  to  pilot  them 
selves  in  a  dark  day.  He  took  a  fat  louse  out  of  his  collar, 
and  exposed  it  to  the  open  day  on  a  piece  of  white  paper,  which 
he  brought  along  with  him  for  his  journal.  The  poor  insect, 
having  no  eyelids,  turned  himself  about  till  he  found  the  dark 
est  part  of  the  heavens,  and  so  made  the  best  of  his  way  towards 
the  north.  By  this  direction  he  steered  himself  safe  out,  and 
gave  such  a  frightful  account  of  the  monsters  he  saw,  and  the 
distresses  he  underwent,  that  no  mortal  since  has  been  hardy 
enough  to  go  upon  the  like  dangerous  discovery. 

The  Great  Dismal  Siuamp. 

Since  the  surveyors  had  entered  the  Dismal,  they  had  laid 
eyes  on  no  living  'creature  :  neither  bird  nor  beast,  insect  nor 
reptile  came  in  view.  Doubtless  the  eternal  shade  that  broods 
over  this  mighty  bog,  and  hinders  the  sunbeams  from  blessing 
the  ground,  makes  it  an  uncomfortable  habitation  for  anything 
that  has  life.  Not  so  much  as  a  Zealand  frog  could  endure  so 
aguish  a  situation.  It  had  one  beauty,  however,  that  delighted 
the  eye,  though  at  the  expense  of  all  the  other  senses :  the 
moisture  of  the  soil  preserves  a  continual  verdure,  and  makes 
every  plant  an  evergreen,  but  at  the  same  time  the  foul  damps 
ascend  without  ceasing,  corrupt  the  air,  and  render  it  unfit  for 
respiration.  Not  even  a  turkey  buzzard  will  venture  to  fly 
over  it. 

The  Early  North  Carolinians. 

In  these  sad  circumstances,  the  kindest  thing  we  could  do 
for  our  suffering  friends  was  to  give  them  a  place  in  the  Litany. 
Our  chaplain,  for  his  part,  did  his  office,  and  rubbed  us  up 
with  a  seasonable  sermon.  This  was  quite  a  new  thing  to 
our  brethren  of  North  Carolina,  who  live  in  a  climate  where 
no  clergyman  can  breathe,  any  more  than  spiders  in  Ireland. 


COLONIAL   LITERATURE.  295 

.  .  .  One  thing  may  be  said  for  the  inhabitants  of  that  prov 
ince,  that  they  .  .  .  have  the  least  superstition  of  any  people 
living.  They  do  not  know  Sunday  from  any  other  day,  any 
more  than  Robinson  Crusoe  did,  which  would  give  them  a  great 
advantage  were  they  given  to  be  industrious.  But  they  keep 
so  many  Sabbaths  every  week,  that  their  disregard  of  the 
seventh  day  has  no  manner  of  cruelty  in  it,  either  to  servants 
or  cattle.  —  The  History  of  the  Dividing  Line,  pp.  20,  22, 
ed.  1841. 

WILLIAM  BRADFORD. 

The  Departure  of  the  Pilgrims  from  Leyden. 
So  they  lefte  yl  goodly  &  pleasante  citie,  which  had  been 
ther  resting  place  near  12.  years;  but  they  knew  they  were 
pilgrimes,  &  looked  not  much  on  those  things,  but  lift  up 
their  eyes  to  ye  heavens,  their  dearest  cuntrie,  and  quieted 
their  spirits.  When  they  came  to  ye  place  they  found  ye  ship 
and  all  things  ready ;  and  shuch  of  their  freinds  as  could  not 
come  with  them  followed  after  them,  and  sundrie  also  came 
from  Amsterdame  to  see  them  shipte  and  to  take  their  leave 
of  them.  That  night  was  spent  with  litle  sleepe  by  y°  most, 
but  with  freindly  entertainmente  &  Christian  discourse  and 
other  reall  expressions  of  true  Christian  love.  The  next  day, 
the  wind  being  faire,  they  wente  aborcle,  and  their  freinds 
with  them,  where  truly  dolfull  was  ye  sight  of  that  sade  and 
mournfull  parting;  to  see  what  sighs  and  sobbs  and  praires 
did  sound  amongst  them,  what  tears  did  gush  from  every  eye, 
&  pithy  speeches  peirst  each  harte ;  that  sundry  of  ye  Dutch 
strangers  yl  stood  on  ye  key  as  spectators,  could  not  refraine 
from  tears.  Yet  comfortable  and  sweete  it  was  to  see  shuch 
lively  and  true  expressions  of  dear  and  unfained  love.  But 
ye  tide  (which  stays  for  no  man)  caling  them  away  y*  were 
thus  loath  to  departe,  their  Reved  :  pastor  falling  downe  on 
his  knees,  (and  they  all  with  him.)  with  watrie  cheeks  corn- 
ended  them  with  most  fervente  praiers  to  the  Lord  and  his 
blessing.  And  then  with  mutuall  imbrases  and  many  tears, 
they  tooke  their  leaves  one  of  an  other ;  which  proved  to  be 
ye  last  leave  to  many  of  them.  —  Of  Plimoth  Plantation,  pp. 
72,  73,  ed.  1898. 

WILLIAM  BRADFORD  AND  EDWARD  WINSLOW. 

The  First  Encounter. 

About  midnight  we  heard  a  great  and  hideous  cry,  and  our 
Sentinell  called,  Arme,  arme.     So  we   bestirred  our  selues 


296  APPENDIX. 

and  shot  off  a  couple  of  Muskets,  and  noyse  ceased.  .  .  . 
About  fiue  a  clock  in  the  morning  wee  began  to  be  stirring, 
.  .  .  after  Prayer  we  prepared  our  selues  for  brek-fast,  and  for 
a  journey,  and  it  being  now  the  twilight  in  the  morning,  it 
was  thought  meet  to  carry  the  things  downe  to  the  Shallop. 
.  .  .  Anone,  all  upon  a  sudden,  we  heard  a  great  &  strange 
cry,  which  we  knew  to  be  the  same  voyces,  though  they 
varied  their  notes,  one  of  our  company  being  abroad  came 
running  in,  and  cryed,  They  are  men,  Indians,  Indians ;  and 
withall,  their  arrowes  came  flying  amongst  vs,  our  men  ran  out 
with  all  speed  to  recover  their  armes,  as  by  the  good  Provi 
dence  of  God  they  did.  In  the  meane  time,  Captaine  Miles 
Standish,  having  a  snaphance  ready,  made  a  shot,  and  after 
him  another,  after  they  two  had  shot,  other  two  of  vs  were 
ready.  .  .  .  We  called  vnto  them  [those  at  the  shallop]  to 
know  how  it  was  with  them,  and  they  answered,  Well,  Well, 
every  one,  and  be  of  good  courage.  .  .  .  The  cry  of  our 
enemies  was  dreadfull,  .  .  .  their  note  was  after  this  manner, 
Woath  woach  ha  ha  hach  woach.  .  .  .  There  was  a  lustie 
man  and  no  whit  lesse  valiant,  who  was  thought  to  bee  their 
Captaine,  stood  behind  a  tree  within  halfe  a  musket  shot  of 
vs,  and  there  let  his  arrowes  fly  at  vs ;  .  .  .  he  stood  three 
shots  of  a  Musket,  at  length  one  tooke  as  he  sayd  full'  ayme 
at  him,  after  which  he  gaue  an  extraordinary  cry  and  away 
they  went  all,  wee  followed  them  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile : 
.  .  .  then  wee  shouted  all  together  two  severall  times,  and 
shot  off  a  couple  of  muskets  and  so  returned :  this  wee  did 
that  they  might  see  wee  were  not  afrayd  of  them  nor  dis 
couraged.  ...  So  after  wee  had  given  God  thankes  for  our 
deliverance,  wee  tooke  our  Shallop  and  went  on  our  lour- 
ney,  and  called  this  place,  The  first  Encounter.  — Journall, 
pp.  51-54,  ed.  1865  (Library  of  New  England  History). 

MADAM  WINTHROP. 
A  Puritan  Love-Letter. 

My  most  sweet  Husband, 

How  dearly  welcome  thy  kind  letter  was  to  me,  I  am  not 
able  to  express.  The  sweetness  of  it  did  much  refresh  me. 
What  can  be  more  pleasing  to  a  wife,  than  to  hear  of  the 
welfare  of  her  best  beloved,  and  how  he  is  pleased  with  her 
poor  endeavors !  I  blush  to  hear  myself  commended,  know 
ing  my  own  wants.  But  it  is  your  love  that  conceives  the 
best,  and  makes  all  things  seem  better  than  they  are.  I  wish 


COLONIAL    LITERATURE.  297 

that  I  may  be  always  pleasing  to  thee,  and  that  those  com 
forts  we  have  in  each  other  may  be  daily  increased,  as  far  as 
they  be  pleasing  to  God.  I  will  use  that  speech  to  thee,  that 
Abigail  did  to  David,  I  will  be  a  servant  to  wash  the  feet  of 
my  lord.  I  will  do  any  service  wherein  I  may  please  my 
good  husband.  I  confess  I  cannot  do  enough  for  thee ;  but 
thou  art  pleased  to  accept  the  will  for  the  deed,  and  rest  con 
tented. 

I  have  many  reasons  to  make  me  love  thee,  whereof  I  will 
name  two :  First,  because  thou  lovest  God ;  and,  secondly, 
because  that  thou  lovest  me.  If  these  two  were  wanting,  all 
the  rest  would  be  eclipsed.  But  I  must  leave  this  discourse, 
and  go  about  my  household  affairs.  I  am  a  bad  housewife  to 
be  so  long  from  them ;  but  I  must  needs  borrow  a  little  time 
to  talk  with  thee,  my  sweet  heart.  The  term  is  more  than 
half  done.  I  hope  thy  business  draws  to  an  end.  It  will  be 
but  two  or  three  weeks  before  I  see  thee,  though  they  be  long 
ones.  God  will  bring  us  together  in  his  good  time ;  for 
which  time  I  shall  pray.  I  thank  the  Lord,  we  are  all  in 
health.  We  are  very  glad  to  hear  so  good  news  of  our  son 
Henry.  The  Lord  make  us  thankful  for  all  his  mercies  to  us 
and  ours.  And  thus,  with  my  mother's  and  my  own  best  love 
to  yourself  and  all  the  rest,  I  shall  leave  scribbling.  The 
weather  being  cold,  makes  me  make  haste.  Farewell,  my 
good  husband  ;  the  Lord  keep  thee. 

Your  obedient  wife, 

MARGARET  WINTHROP. 

GROTON  [ENGLAND],  November  22  [1628]. 
—  Winthrop's  The  History  of  New  England,  Vol.  I.,  Appen 
dix,  p.  353,  ed.  1825. 

THOMAS  HOOKER. 
The  Traitor  at  the  King^s  Court. 

It  is  with  a  poore  humbled  sinner,  as  it  is  with  a  malefac- 
tour  or  traitor,  who  is  pursued  with  a  Pursuivant.  .  .  .  He 
hath  offended  his  Soveraigne,  and  hee  is  driven  to  a  stand, 
he  cannot  procure  a  pardon,  nor  hee  cannot  escape  ;  therefore 
hee  is  content  to  come  in,  and  yeeld  his  necke  to  the  blocke. 
.  .  .  Then  [he]  heareth  other  newes,  which  saith,  if  hee 
will  but  bee  humbled  before  his  Maiestie,  and  come  to  the 
Court,  and  importune  him  for  pardon,  it  is  likely  that  he  may 
be  pardoned,  nay  it  shall  be  so.  Marry  (saith  he)  that  I  will 
with  all  my  heart ;  and  so  hee  sets  forward,  and  comes  to  the 


298  APPENDIX. 

Court.  .  .  .  And  about  the  Court  hee  attends,  and  askes 
for  every  man  that  comes  forth,  Did  you  not  heare  the 
King  speake  of  me?  ...  At  last,  the  King  himselfe  lookes 
out  at  a  window,  and  saith,  Is  this  the  Traytor?  Yes,  this  is 
he  that  hath  beene  humbled,  and  lyes  at  your  mercy.  Then 
the  King  calls  out  and  saith,  His  pardon  is  drawing,' and  it  is 
co  mm  ing  by  and  by,  and  so  the  King  smiles  on  him.  Oh 
then  his  heart  leapes  in  his  breast,  and  he  saith,  The  Lord 
preserve  your  grace,  I  thinke  there  was  never  such  a  mercifull 
Prince  knowne  in  the  world.  —  The  Soules  Implantation, 
pp.  189,  190,  ed.  1640. 

NATHANIEL  WARD. 
Sayings  of  a  Puritan  Carlyle. 

Either  I  am  in  an  Appoplexie,  or  that  man  is  in  a  Lethar 
gic,  who  doth  not  now  sensibly  feele  God  shaking  the  heavens 
over  his  head,  and  the  earth  under  his  feet :  .  .  .  So  that 
little  Light  of  Comfort  or  Counsell  is  left  to  the  sonnes  of 
men.  .  .  .  Sathan  is  now  in  his  passions  .  .  .  ;  hee  loves 
to  fish  in  royled  waters.  Though  that  Dragon  cannot  sting 
the  vitals  of  the  Elect  mortally,  yet  that  Beelzebub  can  fly 
blow  their  Intellectuals  miserably.  *  *  *  He  that  is  willing 
to  tolerate  any  unsound  Opinion,  that  his  own  may  also  be 
tolerated,  though  never  so  sound,  will  for  a  need  hang  Gods 
Bible  at  the  Devils  girdle.  *  *  *  I  honour  the  woman  that 
can  honour  her  self  with  her  attire  :  a  good  Text  al waves  de 
serves  a  fair  Margent :  .  .  .  but  when  I  hear  a  nugiperous 
Gentledame  inquire  what  dresse  the  Qveen  is  in  this  week  : 
what  the  nudiustertian  fashion  of  the  Court ;  .  .  .  with  egge 
to  be  in  it  in  all  hast,  what  ever  it  be ;  I  look  at  her  as  the 
very  gizzard  of  a  trifle,  the  product  of  a  quarter  of  a  cypher, 
the  epitome  of  nothing,  fitter  to  be  kickt,  if  shee  were  of  a 
kickable  substance,  than  either  honoured  or  humoured.  .  .  . 
It  is  no  marvell  they  weare  drailes,  on  the  hinder  part  of  their 
heads,  having  nothing  as  it  seems  in  the  fore-part,  but  a  few 
Squirrills  braines,  to  help  them  frisk  from  one  ill-favour'd 
fashion  to  another.  *  *  *  No  man  ever  saw  a  gray  haire  on 
the  head  or  beard  of  any  Truth,  wrinckle,  or  morphew  on  its 
face.  .  .  .  When  Christ  whips  Market-makers  out  of  his 
Temple,  he  raises  dust :  but  when  hee  enters  in  with  Truth 
and  Holinesse,  he  calls  for  deep  silence.  —  The  Simple  Cobler 
°f  Aggawam,  pp.  1-2,  8,  24-25,  21,  36,  ed.  1647. 


COLONIAL   LITERATURE.  299 

ANNE  BRADSTREET. 
Her  Child-like  Muse. 

My  Muse  unto  a  Childe,  I  fitly  may  compare, 
Who  sees  the  riches  of  some  famous  Fayre; 
He  feeds  his  eyes,  but  understanding  lacks, 
To  comprehend  the  worth  of  all  those  knacks;   .  .  . 
And  thousand  times  his  mazed  mind  doth  wish 
Some  part,  at  least,  of  that  brave  wealth  was  his; 
But  seeing  empty  wishes  nought  obtaine, 
At  night  turnes  to  his  Mother's  cot  againe, 
And  tells  her  tales ;    (his  full  heart  over-glad) 
Of  all  the  glorious  sights  his  eyes  have  had. 
-In  honour  of  Du  Bartas,  in  The  Tenth  Mttse,  p.  197,  ed.  1650. 

Flowers  and  Birds. 

The  Primrose  pale,  and  azure  Violet, 
Among  the  verdurous  Grasse  hath  Nature  set, 
That  when  the  Sun  (on's  love)  the  earth  doth  shine, 
These  might  as  Lace,  set  out  her  Garments  fine ; 
The  fearful  Bird  his  little  house  now  builds, 
In  trees,  and  walls,  in  cities,  and  in  fields. 

The  Four  Seasons  of  the  Yeare,  in  The  Tenth  Muse,  p.  57,  ed. 
1650. 

Contemplations . 

Some  time  now  past  in  the  Autumnal  Tide, 
When  Phoebus  wanted  but  one  hour  to  bed, 
The  trees  all  richly  clad,  yet  void  of  pride, 
Were  gilded  o're  by  his  rich  golden  head. 

I  heard  the  merry  grashopper  then  sing, 
The  black  clad  Cricket  bear  a  second  part, 
They  kept  one  tune,  and  plaid  on  the  same  string, 
Seeming  to  glory  in  their  little  Art. 

****** 
Under  the  cooling  shadow  of  a  stately  Elm 
Close  sate  I  by  a  goodly  Rivers  side. 
Where  gliding  streams  the  Rocks  did  overwhelm; 
A  lonely  place,  with  pleasures  dignifi'd. 
I  once  that  lov'd  the  shady  woods  so  well, 
Now  thought  the  rivers  did  the  trees  excel; 
And  if  the  sun  would  ever  shine,  there  would  I  dwell. 


300  APPENDIX. 

O  Time  the  fatal  wrack  of  mortal  things, 
That  draws  oblivions  curtains  over  kings, 
Their  sumptuous  monuments,  men  kno\v  them  not, 
Their  names  without  a  Record  are  forgot, 
Their  parts,  their  ports,  their  pomp  's  all  laid  in  th'  dust, 
Nor  wit  nor  gold,  nor  buildings  scape  times  rust; 
But  he  whose  name  is  grav'd  in  the  white  stone 
Shall  last  and  shine  when  all  of  these  are  gone. 
—  Contemplations,  stanzas  I,  9,  21,  33,  in  Several  Poems,  ed.  1678. 

Longing  for  Heaven. 

As  weary  pilgrim,  now  at  rest, 

hugs  with  delight  his  silent  nest; 
His  wasted  limbes,  now  lye  full  soft 

that  myrie  steps,  haue  troden  oft; 
Blesses  himself,  to  think  vpon 

his  dangers  past,  and  travailes  done;    .  .  . 
A  pilgrim  I,  on  earth,  perplext 

with  sinns,  with  cares,  and  sorrows  vext, 
By  age  and  paines  brought  to  decay, 

and  my  Clay  house  mouldring  away, 
Oh  how  I  long  to  be  at  rest 

and  soare  on  high  among  the  blest. 

—  Works,  pp.  42,  43,  ed.  1867. 

MICHAEL  WIGGLESWORTH. 
The  Day  of  Doom. 

Still  was  the  night,  Serene  &  Bright 

when  all  Men  sleeping  lay; 
Calm  was  the  season,  &  carnal  reason 

thought  so  't  would  last  for  ay.  ... 
So  at  the  last,  whilst  Men  sleep  fast 

in  their  security, 
Surpriz'd  they  are  in  such  a  snare 

as  cometh  suddenly. 
For  at  midnight  break  forth  a  Light, 

which  turn'd  the  night  to  day, 
And  speedily  an  hideous  cry 

.did  all  the  world  dismay.  .  .  . 
They  rush  from  Beds  with  giddy  heads, 

and  to  their  windows  run, 
Viewing  this  light,  which  shines  more  bright 

then  doth  the  Noon-day  Sun. 
Straightway  appears  (they  see't  with  tears) 

the  Son  of  God  most  dread; 


COLONIAL   LITERATURE.  301 

Who  with  his  Train  comes  on  amain 

to  Judge  both  Quick  and  Dead. 

****** 
My  grace  to  one  is  wrong  to  none : 

none  can  Election  claim 
Amongst  all  those  their  souls  that  lose, 

none  can  Rejection  blame. 
He  that  may  chuse,  or  else  refuse, 

all  men  to  save  or  spill, 
May  this  Man  chuse,  and  that  refuse, 

redeeming  whom  he  will. 

****** 
They  wring  their  hands,  their  caitiff-hands, 

and  gnash  their  teeth  for  terrour; 
They  cry,  they  roar  for  anguish  sore, 

and  gnaw  their  tongues  for  horrour. 
But  get  away  without  delay, 

Christ  pities  not  your  cry; 
Depart  to  Hell,  there  may  you  yell, 

and  roar  Eternally. 
—  The  Day  of  Doom,  stanzas  I,  4,  5,  6,  43,  205,  ed.  1715. 

COTTON  MATHER. 
To  his  Critics. 

Had  not  my  Heart  been  Trebly  Oak'd  and  Brass'd  for  such 
Encounters  as  this  our  History  may  meet  withal,  I  would  have 
worn  the  Silk-worms  Motto,  Operitur  dum  Operatur,  and 
have  chosen  to  have  written  Anonymously ;  or,  as  Claudius 
Salmasius  calls  himself  Walo  Messalinus,  as  Ludovicus  Mo- 
linceus  calls  himself  Ludiomaus  Cohrimis,  as  Carolus  Scriba- 
nius  calls  himself  Clarus  Bonarscius,  .  .  .  Thus  I  would 
have  tried,  whether  I  could  not  have  Anagrammatized  my 
Name  into  some  Concealment.  .  .  .  Whereas  now  I  freely 
confess,  'tis  COTTON  MATHER  that  has  written  all  these 
things.  ...  It  will  not  be  so  much  a  Surprise  unto  me,  if 
I  should  live  to  see  our  Church-History  vexed  with  Anie-mad- 
versions  of  Calumnious  Writers,  as  it  would  have  been  unto 
Virgil,  to  read  his  Bucolicks  reproached  by  the  Antibncolica 
of  a  Nameless  Scribbler.  .  .  .  The  Writer  whom  I  last 
quoted,  hath  given  us  a  Story  of  a  young  Man  in  High-Hol- 
bourn,  who  being  after  his  death  Dissected,  there  was  a 
Serpent  with  divers  Tails,  found  in  the  left  Ventricle  of  his 
Heart.  I  make  no  question,  that  our  Church-History  will 


302  APPENDIX. 

find  some  Reader  disposed  like  that  Writer,  with  an  Heart  as 
full  of  Serpent  and  Venom  as  ever  it  can  hold.  —  Magnalia. 
General  Introduction,  §  6,  ed.  1702. 

The  Character  of  John  Cotton. 

He  would  often  say  with  some  regret,  after  the  departure 
of  a  Visitant,  /  had  rather  have  given  this  Man  an  handful 
of  Money,  than  have  been  kept  thus  long  out  of  my  Study.  .  .  . 
He  was  an  early  Riser,  taking  the  Morning  for  the  Muses  ; 
and  in  his  latter  Days  forbearing  a  Supper,  he  turnM  his 
former  Supping  time,  into  a  Reading,  a  Thinking,  a  Praying- 
time.  Twelve  Hours  in  a  Day  he  commonly  studied,  and 
would  call  that  a  Scholars  Day.  .  .  .  Once  ...  an  humor 
ous  and  imperious  Brother,  following  Mr.  Cotton  home  to  his 
House.  .  .  .  rudely  told  him,  That  his  Ministry  was  become 
generally,  either  dark,  or  flat :  Whereto  this  meek  Man,  very 
mildly  and  gravely,  made  only  this  Answer :  Both,  Brother, 
it  may  be,  both :  Let  me  have  your  Prayers  that  it  may  be 
otherwise.  .  .  .  Another  time,  when  Mr.  Cotton  had  mod 
estly  replied  unto  one  that  would  much  Talk  and  Crack  of 
his  Insight  into  the  Revelations :  Brother,  I  must  confess  my 
self  to  want  Light  in  those  Mysteries.  The  Man  went  home, 
and  sent  him  a  Pound  of  Candles :  Upon  which  Action  this 
good  Man  bestowed  only  a  silent  Smile.  He  would  not  set 
the  Beacon  of  his  Great  Soul  on  fere,  at  the  landing  of  such  a 
little  Cock-boat.  —  Magnalia,  Book  III.,  p.  26,  ed.  1702. 

JONATHAN  EDWARDS. 
The  Sweet  Glory  of  God  in  Nature. 

After  this  my  Sense  of  divine  Things  gradually  increased, 
and  became  more  and  more  lively,  and  had  more  of  that 
inward  Sweetness.  The  Appearance  of  every  thing  was 
altered  :  there  seem'd  to  be,  as  it  were,  a  calm,  sweet  Cast, 
or  Appearance  of  divine  Glory,  in  almost  every  Thing.  God's 
Excellency,  his  Wisdom,  his  Purity  and  Love,  seemed  to 
appear  in  every  Thing;  in  the  Sun,  Moon  and  Stars;  in  the 
Clouds,  and  blue  Sky ;  in  the  Grass,  Flowers,  Trees ;  in  the 
Water,  and  all  Nature ;  which  used  greatly  to  fix  my  Mind. 
I  often  used  to  sit  &  view  the  Moon  for  a  long  time ;  and  so 
in  the  Day-time,  spent  much  time  in  viewing  the  Clouds  & 
Sky,  to  behold  the  sweet  Glory  of  God  in  these  Things.  — 
The  Life  of  Jonathan  Edwards,  p.  27,  ed.  1765. 


COLONIAL   LITERATURE.  303 

Sinners  in  the  Hands  of  an  Angry  God. 

The  God  that  holds  you  over  the  pit  of  hell,  much  as  one 
holds  a  spider,  or  some  loathsome  insect  over  the  fire,  abhors 
you,  and  is  dreadfully  provoked  :  his  wrath  towards  you  burns 
like  fire  ;  he  looks  upon  you  as  worthy  of  nothing  else,  but  to 
be  cast  into  the  fire  ;  he  is  of  purer  eyes  than  to  bear  to  have 
you  in  his  sight ;  you  are  ten  thousand  times  more  abominable 
in  his  eyes  than  the  most  hateful  venomous  serpent  is  in 
ours.  ...  O  sinner  !  Consider  the  fearful  danger  you  are  in  : 
it  is  a  great  furnace  of  wrath,  a  wide  and  bottomless  pit.  full 
of  the  fire  of  wrath,  that  you  are  held  over  in  the  hand  of  that 
God,  whose  wrath  is  provoked  and  incensed  as  much  against 
you,  as  against  many  of  the  damned  in  hell.  You  hang  by  a 
slender  thread,  with  the  flames  of  divine  wrath  flashing  about 
it,  and  ready  every  moment  to  singe  it  and  burn  it  asunder.  — 
The  Works  of  President  Edwards,  Vol.  VII.,  pp.  170,  171, 
ed.  1830. 

SAMUEL  SEWALL. 
A  Puritarfs  Diary. 

Friday  May  22nd.  1685,  had  a  private  Fast :  the  Magistrates 
of  this  town  with  their  Wives  here.  Mr.  Eliot  prayed,  Mr. 
Willard  preached.  I  am  afraid  of  Thy  judgements  —  Text 
Mother  gave.  Mr.  Allen  prayed ;  cessation  half  an  hour. 
Mr.  Cotton  Mather  prayed ;  Mr.  Mather  preached  Ps.  79,  9. 
Mr.  Moodey  prayed  about  an  hour  and  a  half;  Sung  the  79th 
Psalm  from  the  8th  to  the  End :  distributed  some  Biskets, 
and  Beer,  Cider,  Wine.  The  Lord  hear  in  Heaven  his  dwell 
ing  place.  *  *  *  Friday,  Novr  6.  ...  Having  occasion  this 
day  to  go  to  Mr.  Hayward  the  Publick  Notary's  House.  I  speak 
to  him  about  his  cutting  off  his  Hair,  and  wearing  a  Perriwig 
of  contrary  Colour  :  mention  the  words  of  our  Saviour,  Can  ye 
not  make  one  Hair  white  or  black :  and  Mr.  Alsop's  Sermon. 
He  alledges,  The  Doctor  advised  him  to  it.  *  *  *  Monday, 
Oct.  22  [1688].  Mr.  Isaac  Walker  is  buried.  .  .  .  Deacon 
Eliot  and  I  led  the  young  widow,  and  had  Scarfs  and  Gloves. 
The  Lord  fit  me.  that  my  Grave  may  be  a  Sweetening  place 
for  my  Sin-polluted  Body.  *  *  *  April  nth  1692.  Went  to 
Salem,  where,  in  the  Meeting-house,  the  persons  accused  of 
Witchcraft  were  examined  ;  was  a  very  great  Assembly  ;  'twas 
awfull  to  see  how  the  afflicted  persons  were  agitated.  .  .  . 
Augt.  i9Ul  1692.  .  .  .  This  day  George  Burrough,  John 
Willard,  jn°  Procter,  Martha  Carrier  and  George  Jacobs 


304  APPENDIX. 

were  executed  at  Salem,  a  very  great  number  of  Spectators 
being  present.  ...  All  of  them  said  they  were  inocent, 
Carrier  and  all.  Mr.  Mather  says  they  all  died  by  a  Right 
eous  Sentence.  *  *  *  Nov.  6  [1692].  Joseph  threw  a  knop 
of  Brass  and  hit  his  Sister  Betty  on  the  forhead  so  as  to 
make  it  bleed  and  swell ;  upon  which,  and  for  his  playing  at 
Prayer-time,  and  eating  when  Return  Thanks,  I  whipd  him 
pretty  smartly.  When  I  first  went  in  (call'd  by  his  Grand 
mother)  he  sought  to  shadow  and  hide  himself  from  me 
behind  the  head  of  the  Cradle :  which  gave  me  the  sorrowfull 
remembrance  of  Adam's  carriage.  *  *  *  Second-Day ;  Jan? 
24.  i/of  I  paid  Capt.  Belchar  ,£8-15-0.  Took  24s  in  my 
pocket,  and  gave  my  Wife  the  rest  of  my  cash  £4.  3-8,  and 
tell  her  she  shall  now  keep  the  Cash ;  if  I  want  I  will  borrow 
of  her.  She  has  a  better  faculty  than  I  at  managing  Affairs : 
I  will  assist  her ;  and  will  endeavour  to  live  upon  my  Salary ; 
will  see  what  it  will  doe.  The  Lord  give  his  Blessing.  * 
Feria  septima,  Apr.  3  [1708].  I  went  to  Cous.  Dumer's  to 
see  his  News-Letter :  while  I  was  there  Mr.  Nath1  Henchman 
came  in  with  his  Flaxen  Wigg;  I  wish'd  him  Joy,  i.e. 
of  his  Wedding.  I  could  not  observe  that  he  said  a  Word 
to  me ;  and  generally  he  turned  his  back  upon  me,  when 
none  were  in  the  room  but  he  and  I.  This  is  the  Second 
time  I  have  spoken  to  him,  in  vain,  as  to  any  Answer  from 
him.  First  was  upon  the  death  of  his  Wife,  I  cross'd  the 
way  near  our  house,  and  ask'd  him  how  he  did :  He  only 
shew'd  his  Teeth.  *  *  *  8r  i  [1720].  .  .  .  I  went  to  Madam 
Winthrop's  just  at  3.  Spake  to  her,  saying,  my  loving  wife 
died  so  soon  and  suddenly,  'twas  hardly  convenient  for  me  to 
think  of  Marrying  again  ; 1  however  I  came  to  this  Resolution, 
that  I  would  not  make  my  Court  to  any  person  without  first 
Consulting  with  her.  .  .  .  8r  6th  .  .  .  A  little  after  6.  p.m.  I 
went  to  Madam  Winthrop's.  .  .  .  Madam  seem'cl  to  harp 
upon  the  same  string.  Must  take  care  of  her  Children.  .  .  . 
I  gave  her  a  piece  of  Mr.  Belcher's  Cake  and  Ginger-Bread 
wrapped  up  in  a  clean  sheet  of  Paper.  .  .  .  My  Daughter 
Judith  was  gon  from  me  and  I  was  more  lonesom — might 
help  to  forward  one  another  in  our  Journey  to  Canaan.  ...  I 
took  leave  about  9  aclock.  .  .  .  8r  ioth  .  .  .  In  the  Evening 
I  visited  Madam  Winthrop,  who  treated  me  with  a  great  deal 
ofCurtesy;  Wine,  Marmalade.  ...  8f  12.  .  .  .  Madam  Win- 
throp's  Countenance  was  much  changed  from  what  'twas  on 

1  Mrs.  Sewall  had  died  on  May  26,  only  four  months  before.     Judge 
Sewall  was  now  sixty-eight,  and  Mrs.  Winthrop  fifty-six. 


COLONIAL   LITERATURE.  305 

Monday,  look'd  dark  and  lowering.  ...  I  got  my  Chair  in 
place,  had  some  Converse,  but  very  Cold  and  indifferent  to 
what  'twas  before.  Ask'd  her  to  acquit  me  of  Rudeness  if  I 
drew  off  her  Glove.  .  .  .  Got  it  off.  ...  I  gave  her  Dr. 
Preston,  The  Church's  Marriage  and  the  Church's  Carriage, 
which  cost  me  6s.  ...  Told  her  the  reason  why  I  came 
every  other  night  was  lest  I  should  drink  too  deep  draughts 
of  Pleasure.  She  had  talk'd  of  Canary,  her  kisses  were  to  me 
better  than  the  best  Canary.  ...  8^  19.  ...  Visited  Madam 
Winthrop.  .  .  .  Was  Courteous  to  me;  but  took  occasion 
to  speak  pretty  earnestly  about  my  keeping  a  Coach :  I  said 
'twould  cost  £ioo.  per  anum :  she  said  twould  cost  but 
^40.  .  .  .  Came  away  somewhat  late.  ...  8r  21.  .  .  .  About 
6.  a-clock  I  go  to  Madam  Winthrop's ;  Sarah  told  me  her 
Mistress  was  gon  out.  .  .  .  She  presently  order'd  me  a  Fire ; 
so  I  went  in,  having  Dr.  Sibb's  Bowels  with  me  to  read.  .  .  . 
After  a  good  while  and  Claping  the  Garden  door  twice  or 
thrice,  she  [Mrs.  W.]  came  in.  ...  I  ask'd  when  our  pro 
ceedings  should  be  made  publick :  She  said  They  were  like 
to  be  no  more  publick  than  they  were  already.  Offer'd  me 
no  Wine  that  I  remember.  .  .  .  Nov'  7th  ...  I  went  to  Mad. 
Winthrop ;  found  her  rocking  her  little  Katee  in  the  Cradle. 
.  .  .  She  set  me  an  arm'd  Chair  and  Cusheon  ;  and  so  the 
Cradle  was  between  her  arm'd  Chair  and  mine.  Gave  her  the 
remnant  of  my  Almonds  ;  She  did  not  eat  of  them  as  before.  .  .  . 
I  told  her  I  loved  her :  .  .  .  She  said  had  a  great  respect  for 
me.  ...  I  did  not  bid  her  draw  off  her  Glove  as  sometime 
I  had  done.  Her  Dress  was  not  so  clean  as  sometime  it  had 
been.  Jehovah  jireh  !  .  .  .  Novy  nth  Went  not  to  M™ 
Winthrop's.  This  is  the  2?  Withdraw.  .  .  .  Novr  21.  ... 
Madam  Winthrop  made  a  Treat  for  her  Children :  .  .  .  I 
knew  nothing  of  it ;  but  the  same  day  abode  in  the  Council 
Chamber  for  fear  of  the  Rain,  and  din'd  alone  upon  Kilby's 
Pyes  and  good  Beer.  —  Diary  of  Samuel  Sewall,  ed.  1878- 
1882  (Coll.  Mass.  Hist.  Soc.,  Series  V.,  Vols.V.-VIL, passim). 

MADAM  KNIGHT. 
Travelling  in  Olden  Times. 

Monday,  Octb'r.  ye  second,  1704.  —  About  three  o'clock 
afternoon,  I  began  my  Journey  from  Boston  to  New-Haven. 
.  .  .  Mad'n  Billings  .  .  .  Very  kindly  went  wyth  me  to  ye 
Tavern,  where  I  hoped  to  get  my  guide,  And  desired  the 
Hostess  to  inquire  of  her  guests  whether  any  of  them  would 
x 


306  APPENDIX. 

go  with  mee.  But  they  being  tyed  by  the  Lipps  to  a  pewter 
engine,  scarcely  allowed  themselves  time  to  say.  .  .  .  Upon 
this,  to  my  no  small  surprise,  son  John  arrose,  and  gravely 
demanded  what  I  would  give  him  to  go  with  me?  ...  Well, 
Mr.  John,  sais  I,  make  your  demands.  Why,  half  a  pss. 
[piece]  of  eight  and  a  dram,  sais  John.  I  agreed,  and  gave 
him  a  Dram  (now)  in  hand  to  bind  the  bargain.  .  .  .  His 
shade  on  his  Hors  resembled  a  Globe  on' a  Gate  post.  .  .  . 
Thus  Jogging  on  with  an  easy  pace,  my  Guide  telling  mee  it 
was  dangero's  to  Ride  hard  in  the  Night,  (whch  his  horse 
had  the  sence  to  avoid,)  Hee  entertained  me  with  the  Adven- 
turs  he  had  passed  by  late  Rideing,  and  eminent  Dangers  he 
had  escaped,  so  that  ...  I  didn't  know  but  I  had  mett  wth 
a  Prince  disguised.  ...  In  about  an  howY,  or  something 
more,  after  we  left  the  Swamp,  we  come  to  Billinges,  where  I 
was  to  Lodg.  .  .  .  Shee  [the  landlady's  daughter]  conducted 
me  to  a  parlour  in  a  little  back  Lento  [lean-to],  wch  was  almost 
fill'd  wth  the  bedsted,  wch  was  so  high  that  I  was  forced  to 
climb  on  a  chair  to  gitt  up  to  ye  wretched  bed  that  lay  on  it ; 
on  wch  having  Stretcht  my  tired  Limbs,  and  lay'd  my  head  on 
a  Sad-colourd  pillow,  I  began  .to  think  on  the  transactions  of 
ye  past  day.  Tuesday,  October  ye  third,  about  8  in  the  morn 
ing,  I  with  the  Post  proceeded  forward  without  observing  any 
thing  remarkable  ;  And  about  two,  afternoon,  Arrived  at  the 
Post's  second  stage,  where  the  western  Post  mett  him  and  ex 
changed  Letters.  Here,  having  called  for  something  to  eat, 
ye  woman  bro't  in  a  Twisted  thing  like  a  cable,  but  something 
whiter ;  and  laying  it  on  the  bord,  tugg'd  for  life  to  bring  it 
into  a  capacity  to  spread ;  wch  having  wth  great  pains  accom 
plished,  shee  serv'd  in  a  dish  of  Pork  and  Cabbage.  ...  I, 
being  hungry,  gott  a  little  down ;  but  .  .  .  what  cabbage 
I  swallowed  serv'd  me  for  a  Cudd  the  whole  day  after.  .  .  . 
About  Three  afternoon  went  on  with  my  Third  Guide,  who 
Rode  very  hard:  and  having  crossed  Providence  Ferry,  we 
come  to  a  River  wch  they  Generally  Ride  thro1.  But  I  dare 
not  venture  ;  so  the  Post  got  a  Ladd  and  Cannoo  to  carry  me  to 
tother  side,  and  hee  rid  thro1  and  Led  my  hors.  The  Cannoo 
was  very  small  and  shallow,  so  that  when  we  were  in  she 
seeirTd  redy  to  take  in  water,  which  greatly  terrified  me,  and 
caused  me  to  be  very  circumspect,  sitting  with  my  hands  fast 
on  each  side,  my  eyes  stedy,  not  daring  so  much  as  to  lodg 
my  tongue  a  hair's  breadth  more  on  one  side  of  my  mouth 
then  tother,  nor  so  much  as  think  on  Lott's  wife,  for  a  wry 
thought  would  have  oversett  our  wherey :  But  was  soon  put 


COLONIAL   LITERATURE.  307 

out  of  this  pain,  .  .  .  and  Rewarding  my  sculler,  again 
mounted  and  made  the  best  of  our  way  forwards.  —  The  Jour 
nals  of  Madam  Knight,  and  Rev.  Mr.  Buckingham,  pp.  9- 
16  ed.  1825. 

MRS.  MARY  ROWLANDSON. 

An  Indian  Massacre. 

On  the  tenth  of  February  1675.  [O.S.]  Came  the  Indians 
with  great  numbers  upon  Lancaster :  Their  first  coming  was 
about  Sun-rising;  hearing  the  noise  of  some  Guns,  we  looked 
out ;  several  Houses  were  burning,  and  the  Smoke  ascending 
to  Heaven.  ...  At  length  they  came  and  beset  our  own 
house,  and  quickly  it  was  the  dolefullest  day  that  ever  mine 
eyes  saw.  .  .  .  Some  in  our  house  were  fighting  for  their 
lives,  others  wallowing  in  their  blood,  the  House  on  fire  over 
our  heads,  and  the  bloody  Heathen  ready  to  knock  us  on  the 
head,  if  we  stirred  out.  .  .  .  The  bullets  rattled  against  the 
House,  as  if  one  had  taken  an  handfull  of  stones  and  threw 
them.  .  .  .  But  out  we  must  go,  the  fire  increasing,  and 
coming  along  behind  us,  roaring,  and  the  Indians  gaping 
before  us  with  their  Guns,  Spears  and  Hatchets  to  devour  us. 
No  sooner  were  we  out  of  the  House,  but  my  Brother  in  Law 
.  .  .  fell  down  dead.  .  .  .  The  bulletts  flying  thick,  one 
went  through  my  side,  and  the  same  (as  would  seem)  through 
the  bowels  and  hand  of  my  dear  Child  in  my  arms.  .  .  . 
There  were  twelve  killed,  some  shot,  some  stabM  with  their 
Spears,  some  knock'd  down  with  their  Hatchets.  .  .  .  There 
was  one  who  was  chopt  into  the  head  with  a  Hatchet,  and 
stript  naked,  and  yet  was  crawling  up  and  down.  It  is  a 
solemn  Sight  to  see  so  rrany  Christians  lying  in  their  blood, 
some  here,  and  some  there,  like  a  company  of  Sheep  torn  by 
Wolves.  All  of  them  stript  naked  by  a  company  of  hell 
hounds,  roaring,  singing,  ranting  and  insulting,  as  if  they 
would  have  torn  our  very  hearts  out.  —  A  Narrative  of  the 
Captivity  and  Restauration  of  Mrs.  Mary  Rowlandson,  pp. 
1-5  Cambridge  ed.,  1682. 

A  COLLECTION  OF  POEMS. 
Commencement  at  Harvard. 
Thus  clad,  in  careless  order  mixt  by  chance, 
In  haste  they  both  [belles  and  beaux]  along  the  streets  advance; 
'Till  near  the  brink  of  Charles's  beauteous  stream, 
They  stop,  and  think  the  lingring  boat  to  blame. 


3o8  APPENDIX. 

Soon  as  the  empty  skiff  salutes  the  shore, 
In  with  impetuous  haste  they  clustering  pour, 
The  men  the  head,  the  stern  the  ladies  grace, 
And  neighing  horses  fill  the  middle  space.  .  .  . 
'Till  row'd  with  care,  they  reach  th'  opposing  side, 
Leap  on  the  shore,  and  leave  the  threat'ning  tide. 
While  to  receive  the  pay  the  boatman  stands, 
And  chinking  pennys  jingle  in  his  hands. 
Eager  the  sparks  assault  the  waiting  cars, 
Fops  meet  with  fops,  and  clash  in  civil  wars. 
Off  fly  the  wigs,  as  mount  their  kicking  heels, 
The  rudely  bouncing  head  with  anguish  swells.  .  .  . 
And  now  thy  town;   O  Cambridge  !  strikes  the  sight 
Of  the  beholders  with  confus'd  delight ; 
Thy  green  campaigns  wide  open  to  the  view, 
And  buildings  where  bright  youth  their  fame  pursue.  .  . 
The  thing  which  first  the  num'rous  crowd  employs, 
Is  by  a  breakfast  to  begin  their  joys. 
While  wine,  which  blushes  in  a  chrystal  glass 
Streams  down  in  floods,  and  paints  their  glowing  face. 
And  now  the  time  approaches  when  the  bell, 
With  dull  continuance  tolls  a  solemn  knell. 
Numbers  of  blooming  youth  in  black  array 
Adorn  the  yard,  and  gladden  all  the  day. 
In  two  strait  lines  they  instantly  divide, 
While  each  beholds  his  partner  on  th'  opposing  side, 
Then  slow,  majestick,  walks  the  learned  head, 
The  senate  follow  with  a  solemn  tread, 
Next  levi's  tribe  in  reverend  order  move, 
Whilst  the  uniting  youth  the  show  improve. 
They  glow  in  long  procession  till  they  come, 
Near  to  the  portals  of  the  sacred  dome.  .   .  . 
The  work  begun  with  pray'r,  with  modest  pace, 
A  youth  advancing  mounts  the  desk  with  grace, 
To  all  the  audience  sweeps  a  circling  bow, 
Then  from  his  lips  ten  thousand  graces  flow. 
—  Commencement,  in  A  Collection  of  Poems,  pp.  48-51,  ed.  1744. 

JOSEPH  GREEN. 
Dr.  Byles  on  his  Cat. 
She  never  thirsted  for  the  chicken's  blood; 
Her  teeth  she  only  used  to  chew  her  food; 
Harmless  as  satires  which  her  master  writes, 
A  foe  to  scratching,  and  unused  to  bites, 
She  in  the  study  was  my  constant  mate; 
There  we  together  many  evenings  sate. 


COLONIAL   LITERATURE.  309 

Whene'er  I  felt  my  towering  fancy  fail, 
I  stroked  her  head,  her  ears,  her  back,  and  tail; 
And  as  I  stroked  improved  my  dying  song 
From  the  sweet  notes  of  her  melodious  tongue : 
Her  purrs  and  mews  so  evenly  kept  time, 
She  purred  in  metre,  and  she  mewed  in  rhyme. 
But  when  my  dulness  has  too  stubborn  proved, 
Nor  could  by  Puss's  music  be  removed, 
Oft  to  the  well-known  volumes  have  I  gone, 
And  stole  a  line  from  Pope  or  Addison. 

From  Stedman  and  Hutchinson's  A  Library  of  American  Litera 
ture,  Vol.  II.,  p.  435. 

THOMAS  GODFREY. 

Jealousy. 

In  a  dark  Corner  hell-born  Jealousy, 
A  Wan  and  haggard  Spright,  I  did  espy; 
Watchful  she  roll'd  her  ghastly  Eyes  around, 
And  cautious  trod,  to  catch  the  whisp'ring  Sound : 
Her  Heart  forever  deathless  Vultures  tear, 
And  by  her  Side  stalk  Anguish  and  Despair : 
Curst  is  the  Wretch  with  her  dire  Rage  possess'd, 
When  fancied  Ills  destroy  his  wonted  Rest. 

—  The  Coiirt  of  Fancy,  p.  23,  ed.  1762. 

The  Instability  of  Human  Greatness. 

Bcthas.     True,  I  am  fall'n,  but  glorious  was  my  fall, 
The  day  was  brav'ly  fought,  we  did  our  best, 
But  victory 's  of  heav'n.     Look  o'er  yon  field, 
See  if  thou  findest  one  Arabian  back 
Disfigur'd  with  dishonourable  wounds. 
No,  here,  deep  on  their  bosoms,  are  engrav'd 
The  marks  of  honour  !   'twas  thro'  here  their  souls 
Flew  to  their  blissful  seats.     Oh  !  why  did  I 
Survive  the  fatal  day?     To  be  this  slave, 
To  be  the  gaze  and  sport  of  vulgar  crouds, 
Thus,  like  a  shackl'd  tyger,  stalk  my  round, 
And  grimly  low'r  upon  the  shouting  herd. 
Ye  Gods !  .  .  . 

King.     .  .  .  Hence,  bear  him  to  his  dungeon; 
lysias,  we  here  commit  him  to  thy  charge. 

Bethas.    Welcome  my  dungeon,  but  more  welcome  death. 
Trust  not  too  much,  vain  Monarch,  to  your  pow'r, 
Know  Fortune  places  all  her  choicest  gifts 
On  ticklish  heights,  they  shake  with  ev'ry  breeze, 


3io 


APPENDIX. 


And  oft  some  rude  wind  hurls  them  to  the  ground. 
Jove's  thunder  strikes  the  lofty  palaces, 
While  the  low  cottage,  in  humility, 
Securely  stands,  and  sees  the  mighty  ruin. 
What  King  can  boast,  to  morrow  as  to-day, 
Thus,  happy  will  I  reign?     The  rising  sun 
May  view  him  seated  on  a  splendid  throne, 
And,  setting,  see  him  shake  the  servile  chain. 

—  The  Prince  of  Part/iia,  I.,  v.,  in  Juvenile  Poems,  etc.,  pp.  120, 
121,  ed.  1765. 

HENRY  LAUKENS. 
A  Noble  Spirit  in  Prison, 

From  White  Hall,  I  was  conducted  in  a  close  hackney  coach, 
under  the  charge  of  Col.  Williamson,  a  polite,  genteel  officer, 
and  two  of  the  illest-looking  fellows  I  had  ever  seen.  The 
coach  was  ordered  to  proceed  by  the  most  private  ways  to  the 
Tower.  It  had  been  rumored  that  a  rescue  would  be  at 
tempted.  .  .  .  Governor  Gore  conducted  me  to  my  apart 
ments  at  a  warder's  house.  As  I  was  entering  the  house  I 
heard  some  of  the  people  say  :  "  Poor  old  gentleman,  bowed 
down  with  infirmities.  He  is  come  to  lay  his  bones  here." 
My  reflection  was,  i;  I  shall  not  leave  a  bone  with  you."  I 
was  very  sick,  but  my  spirits  were  good,  and  my  mind  forbod- 
ing  good  from  the  event  of  being  a  prisoner  in  London.  .  ._  . 
And  now  I  found  myself  a  close  prisoner,  indeed  ;  shut  up  in 
two  small  rooms,  which  together  made  about  twenty  feet 
square  ;  a  warder  my  constant  companion  ;  and  a  fixed  bayo 
net  under  my  window.  ...  I  discovered  I  was  to  pay  rent 
for  my  little  rooms,  find  my  own  meals  and  drink,  bedding, 
coals,  candles,  etc.  This  drew  from  me  an  observation  to 
the  gentleman  jailer :  .  .  .  "  Whenever  I  caught  a  bird  in 
America  I  found  a  cage  and  victuals  for  it." 
people  around  me  thought,  for  a  considerable  time,  my  life  in 
imminent  danger  \_i.e.  because  of  his  illness].  I  was  of  a 
different  opinion.  ...  I  asked  the  warder,  "  If  he  could 
lend  me  a  book  for  amusement?  "  He  gravely  asked  :  "  Will 
your  honor  be  pleased  to  have  <  Drelincourt  upon  death'? 
I  quickly  turned  to  his  wife,  who  was  passing  from  making  up 
my  bed  :  "  Pray,  Madam,  can  you  recommend  an  honest  gold 
smith,  who  will  put  a  new  head  to  my  cane ;  you  see  this  old 
head  is  much  worn?  "  "  Yes,  sir,  I  can."  The  people  under 
stood  me,  and  nothing  more  was  said  of  "  Drelincourt." 
Monday,  26th  February,  Mr.  Oswald  .  .  .  sent  me  the  follow- 


REVOLUTIONARY    LITERATURE.  311 

ing  message :  .  .  .  "  Their  Lordships  say,  if  you  will  point 
out  anything  for  the  benefit  of  Great  Britain,  in  the  present 
dispute  with  the  Colonies,  you  shall  be  enlarged.11  ...  I 
snatched  up  my  pencil,  and  upon  a  sudden  impulse  wrote  a 
note  to  Mr.  Oswald  :  .  .  .  "  1  perceive,  my  dear  friend,  .  .  . 
that  if  I  were  a  rascal,  I  might  presently  get  out  of  the  Tower 
—  I  am  not.  ...  I  could  point  out  a  doctrine,  known  to 
every  old  woman  in  the  kingdom,  '  A  spoonful  of  honey  will 
catch  more  flies,  than  a  ton  of  vinegar.1  .  .  ."  [Mr.  Oswald 
visited  him,  and  said :]  u  I  showed  the  note  you  lately  sent 
me  to  Lord  Germain,  who  was  at  first  very  angry.  He  ex 
claimed,  *  Rascals  !  rascals  !  —  we  want  no  rascals  !  Honey  ! 
honey  ! !  vinegar  !  They  have  had  too  much  honey  and  too 
little  vinegar!  They  shall  have  less  honey  and  more  vinegar 
for  the  future  !'"  I  said  to  Mr.  Oswald,  I  should  be  glad  to 
taste  a  little  of  his  lordship's  vinegar ;  his  lordship's  honey 
had  been  very  unpleasant.  *  *  *  September  23"?  —  For  some 
time  past  I  have  been  frequently  and  strongly  tempted  to 
make  my  escape  from  the  Tower.  ...  At  length  I  put  a 
stop  to  farther  applications  by  saying,  "  I  will  not  attempt  an 
escape.  The  gates  were  opened  for  me  to  enter ;  they  shall 
be  opened  for  me  to  go  out  of  the  Tower.  God  Almighty 
sent  me  here  for  some  purpose.  I  am  determined  to  see  the 
end  of  it.11 — A  Narrative  of  the  Captivity  of  Henry  Lau- 
rens,  from  Stedman  and  Hutchinson's  A  Library  of  American 
Literature,  Vol.  III.,  pp.  109-113. 

THE  COLUMBIAN  MAGAZINE. 
Two  Literary  Coxcombs. 

There  are  certain  species  of  folly,  which,  as  they  are  the 
effects  of  an  empty  and  unnecessary  pride,  deserve  the  lash  of 
ridicule.  ...  Of  this  class,  there  is  one,  which  cannot  but 
be  conspicuous  both  from  its  absurdity  and  numbers  that  are 
addicted  to  it.  I  mean,  when  a  person  pretends  to  an  entire 
knowledge  of  those  things  that  he  is  not  at  all  acquainted 
with.  ...  I  have  heard  the  highest  encomiums  bestowed 
upon  the  works  of  Virgil,  by  persons  who  knew  not  Latin 
from  Hebrew;  and  Homer  idolized  by  those  who  could  not 
have  distinguished  Greek  from  Low  Dutch.  ...  A  young 
Gentleman,  with  whom  I  have  a  slight  acquaintance,  has 
often  declared  "  that  for  his  part,  he  should  doubt  the  reality 
of  a  Trudging  war  [Trojan  War]  .  .  .  did  he  not  think  it 
impossible,  that  Plato's  elegant  and  lively  description  of  it 


3i2  APPENDIX. 

should  be  fiction,  and  entirely  want  foundation."  .  .  .  This 
fellow  acts  upon  a  large,  and,  indeed,  an  unlimited  scale,  and 
is  acquainted  with  every  author,  and  transaction  of  note,  since 
the  time  of  Adam  to  the  present  day.  But,  I  have  the  honour 
of  an  acquaintance,  with  a  lady,  who,  much  in  the  same  way, 
pursues  a  more  contracted  plan,  which  she  manages  with 
great  credit.  .  .  .  She  has  selected  one  work,  which  has 
happened  to  be  the  Spectator,  upon  which  she  lavishes  all 
the  commendations  she  has  to  dispose  of,  and  asserts  its 
supremacy  among  books,  without  having  read  more  than  half 
a  dozen  pages  in  it.  ...  She  is  extremely  fond  of  having 
small  and  sociable  parties  at  her  house,  at  one  of  which  a 
general  conversation  took  place  concerning  English  authors, 
and  the  precedency  of  their  works.  For  a  short  time  she  was 
silent,  and  listened  to  the  opinions  of  the  company  with  more 
patience  than  I  expected  from  her ;  but,  at  length,  after  wrig 
gling  and  twisting  awhile  in  her  chair,  she  broke  forth  like  a 
torrent,  somewhat  in  this  manner :  "  No,  gentlemen,  you  may 
talk  as  much  as  you  please  of  your  Popes  and  your  Swifts, 
your  Sternes,  Steeles,  and  Addisons.  but  I  insist  upon  it  that 
the  Spectator  is  the  finest  book  that  ever  was  printed  in  any 
language,  or  country  whatever,  and  as  for  our  English  writers 
there  is  none  of  them  could  ever  stand  in  competition  with 
him."  ...  I  shall  conclude  this  paper,  .  .  .  with  a  quota 
tion  from  a  former  number :  Reader,  "  whatsoever  thou  hast 
observed  that  arouses  thy  detestation  or  contempt,  that  avoid." 
—  The  Retailer,  No.  V.,  in  The  Columbian  Magazine,  June, 
1788,  pp.  318-323- 

THE  PROVIDENCE  GAZETTE. 

A  Dream  of  the  Branding  of  Asses  and  Horses. 
I  must  tell  you  I  don't  heartily  approve  of  every  thing  in 
the  great  man's  letter  that  was  in  your  last  paper.  —  He  that 
acknowledges  that  I  am  an  Englishman,  and  tells  me  at  the 
same  time  that  I  am  to  live  under  laws  which  I  have  no  hand 
in  making,  and  am  to  be  taxed  where  I  have  no  representa 
tive,  does  but  mock  me.  .  .  .  But  I  found  something  in  his 
letter  about  a  stamping  law ;  .  .  .  and  going  to  bed  full  of 
the  matter,  I  had  a  very  odd  dream,  which,  if  you  please,  I 
will  relate  to  you.  Methought  the  stamp  law  ended  in  one 
for  stamping  all  our  beasts  of  burthen;  .  .  .  and  ...  I 
fancied  that  I  saw  all  the  horses  of  the  town  brought  together 
in  a  pasture,  .  .  .  and  amongst  them  were  about  half  a  dozen 


REVOLUTIONARY   LITERATURE.  313 

asses,  being  all  we  had.  Soon  after,  the  master-brander  with 
his  retinue  approached  the  pasture  in  great  pomp,  one  carry 
ing  a  large  silver  brand  in  the  form  of  the  letter  S and 

upon  entering  the  field,  they  began  with  the  asses,  and  branded 
them  without  the  least  interruption :  They  then  drew  near  to 
the  horses,  and  would  have  laid  hold  on  a  stately  BAY  horse, 
but  taking  fright  at  the  glittering  of  the  brand,  he  snorted, 
kicked  up  his  heels,  and  went  off;  I  was  sorry  to  see  him 
fling  the  dirt  in  the  gentleman's  face  ;  and  the  whole  drove 
being  struck  with  the  same  panic,  they  leapt  the  fence,  and 
ran  off  snorting  and  flinging  up  their  heels.  .  .  .  And  whilst 
the  branding  company  stared,  ...  a  very  ragged  country 
fellow  said  with  a  facetious  grin,  that  he  always  understood,  till 
then,  that  the  good  people  of  England  very  well  knew  that  none 
but  asses  would  stand  still  to  be  branded.  .  .  .  [A]  gentleman 
proceeded,  and  assured  the  brander  that  the  horses  .  .  .  were 
all  of  the  English  breed,  and  the  far  greater  part  of  them  had 
for  their  sire  and  were  descended  from  a  very  remarkable 
horse,  known  by  the  name  of  Old  Noll,  who  though  he  was 
not  a  showy  beast,  was  firm,  and  had  courage  to  the  back 
bone,  and  might  have  been  of  great  use,  but  that  his  master 
fell  in  love  with  a  huge  pair  of  French  spurs,  and  contrary  to 
all  good  advice,  must  needs  mount  Noll,  with  them  upon  his 
heels  ;  but  unhappily  the  horse  no  sooner  felt  the  spurs  at  his 
sides,  but  he  gave  his  master  such  a  fall  as  broke  his  neck ; 
upon  which  the  breed  were  out  of  credit  for  a  while,  and  be 
ing  sent  hither,  multiplied  exceedingly.  .  .  .  Here  the  whole 
of  our  company  gave  three  huzzas,  ...  in  which  I  joined  so 
heartily,  that  the  good  woman  at  my  side  gave  me  a  hunch 
with  her  elbow,  and  asked  me  if  I  had  the  cholic  or  gripes, 
and  so  ended  my  vision.  —  Anonymous  letter  to  the  editor, 
Nov.  10,  1764.  (From  the  file  of  the  Gazette  in  the  library 
of  the  R.  I.  Hist.  Soc.) 

A   CURE  FOR  THE  SPLEEN. 

A  Tory  View  of  the  Revolution. 

Sharp  [a  parson] .  Your  servant  squire  Bumper,  pray  walk 
in;  how  do  you  do?  Bumper  [a  justice].  In  pretty  good 
health,  I  thank  you  sir ;  how  is  it  with  yourself  and  madam  ? 
Sharp.  We're  moving  about,  tollerably  well,  for  old  folks. 
.  .  .  (Enter  to  them  Fillpot  [an  inn-keeper],  Graveairs  [a 
deacon],  and  Trim  [a  barber]).  Sharp.  Your  servant  gen 
tlemen,  pray  sit  down ;  how  do  you  do  deacon  ?  Grave.  I 


3H  APPENDIX. 

thank  you  revd.  sir,  this  cough  has  not  quite  left  me  yet,  — h 

—  hugh  —  h  —  Hugh  —  h  —  hugh  —  tho'   thro'    mercy,    it   is 
much    better,    h  —  hugh  —  h  —  hugh.     Sharp.     I'm   glad   to 
hear  it.     How  do  you  do  landlord?     Fill.     As  well  as  I  can 
these   hard    times    sir.     Sharp.     Hard    times !     Why  surely 
you've  no  reason  to  complain  landlord.     Fill.     Why  no  sir,  I 
don't  complain;  that  is,  on  my  own  account  —  but  then  our 
public  affairs,  you  know  sir,  we  must  think  a  little  about  them. 
Sharp.     I  believe  if  we  mind  every  one  his  own  business,  and 
leave  the  affairs  of  the  state  to  the  conduct  of  wiser  heads, 
we   shall   soon   be   convinced   that  we  are  a  happy  people. 
Trim.     Excuse  me  there  revd  sir,  saving  your  presence  ;  why 
sir,  if  I  was  deny'd  the  privilege  of  my  shop  to  canvass  poli 
ticks,   .   .   .  you  may  e'en  take  my  razors,  soap,  combs   and 
all,  and  set  fire  to  my  shop.   .  .   .   But  now  sir,  if  forty  come 
in  together,  and  all  in  the  most  feezing  hurry ;  I  have  nothing 
to  do  but  to  souse  plump  into  a  descant  upon  the  times,  and 
in  the  snap  of  a  finger  every  man  is  as  patient  and  still  as  any 
blockhead   in  my  shop — arrectis  auribus,  they  sit  gaping, 
with  solemn  unmeaning  phiz's ;   .   .  .    and  then  I  rattle  away 
upon  grievances,  opposition,  rebellion  and  so  on,  only  for  the 
innocent  purpose  of  supporting  the  credit  of  my  shop.  .  .  . 
For  by  the  mother  that  bore  me,  ...   I  am  ignorant  of  the 
essential  difference  .  .   .  between  a  true  whig  and  an  honest 
tory.  .   .   .     Puff  [a  late  representative,  who  has  just  come 
in].      Hem!    lie!    hem!   .   .  .     Why,    Mr.    speaker!— I    beg 
pardon — gentlemen,  I   mean  — .   .    .  but  as   I  was  saying — 
for  him  to  say  as  this  here— to  wit  — that  there  is  no  differ 
ence  between  a  whig  and  a  tory  —  why  what  a  dickens  are  we 
contending   about,   if  so  be  as   how  this  here  was  the  case 

—  a   fine  case  truly  —  why  has   not   Lord   North    and    Lord 
Hilsboro'   and   that    George    Greenville  stript  us  of  all  our 
constitutional  charter  rights  and  privileges  —  the  birth-right 
of  Englishmen,  which  our  pious  fore-fathers  purchased  with 
their  blood  and  treasure,  when  they  came  over  into  this  waste 
howling  wilderness.   .   .  .     Before  I'd  give  up  our  just  rights 
and  privileges,  I'd  take  my  gun,  and  load  and  fire  and  pull 
trigger  like  the  nation  and  fight  up  to  the  knees  in  blood. 
.  .  .  Grave.   ...  As  Mr. —  h— hugh  — Puff  has  very  well 
observed,  all  our  charter  rights  and  privileges  are  torn  from 
us  and  we  are  made  slaves,  and  the  Lord  send  us  deliverance 

—  h  — hugh  — h  — hugh  —  h  —  hugh.     Sharp.      Don't   you 
carry  matters    rather  too   far  deacon?  .   .  .     Pray  consider, 
don't  you  sit  quietly  under  your  own  vine  and  under  you.r 


REVOLUTIONARY    LITERATURE.  315 

own  fig-tree?  Don't  you  enjoy  full  liberty  of  conscience  in 
religious  matters  ?  .  .  .  Does  any  one  meddle  with  your  per 
son  or  property?  Are  you  over-burthened  with  taxes?  .  .^  . 
Turn  your  eyes  to  your  brother  Englishmen  in  Great-Britain 
—  see  with  what  taxes  and  duties  they  are  burthened.  .  .  . 
Puff.  But  pray  revd  sir,  have  the  parliament  any  right  to 
make  laws  for  us  ?  [Sharp  then  enters  into  a  long  and  plausi 
ble  argument  to  show  that  Parliament  had  always  exercised 
an  unquestioned  right  to  regulate  trade  by  laying  duties  upon 
imports,  and  that  the  new  duties  upon  tea,  etc.,  did  not  differ 
from  the  old  duties  except  in  the  express  declaration  by  Par 
liament  that  they  were  levied  for  the  purpose  of  raising  rev 
enue  as  well  as  for  regulating  trade.  He  thus  concludes:] 
Sharp.  .  .  .  They  don't  consider  that  they  are  entering  the 
lists  with  a  power,  which  is  more  than  a  match  for  all  the 
other  powers  of  Europe ;  they  don't  consider  the  horrors  of 
a  civil  war.  .  .  .  Their  [Congress's]  resolves  are  nothing 
short  of  high  treason  ;  their  association  is  an  open  declaration 
of  hostilities,  partaking  .  .  .  equally  of  wickedness  and  folly. 
.  Their  addresses  are  a  jargo'n  of  contradictions  and 
absurdities.  .  .  .  Bump.  Fiddle  faddle,  'tis  all  stuff  and 
nonsense  ;  redress  of  grievances  is  but  the  decoy  set  up  to 
catch  the  ignorant  and  unwary.  The  leaders  aim  at  an  inde 
pendency  on  Great-Britain,  in  order  to  become  themselves 
the  tyrants  of  the  Colonies.  .  .  .  Trim.  Well,  I'm  deter- 
min'd  to  drop  my  shop  preachments.  .  .  .  Grave.  I  verily 
fear  we  are  all  wrong.  .  .  .  Puff.  I  profess.  I'm  of  the  same 
mind  ;  I  begin  to  see  things  in  a  different  light.  .  .  .  Sharp. 
Gentlemen  I  wish  you  all  a  very  good  night.  —  A  Cure  for 
the  Spleen,  pp.  3-10,  25-28,  32,  ed.  1775. 

J.  HECTOR  ST.  JOHN  CREVECCEUR. 

A  Snake-Story. 

As  I  was  one  day  sitting  solitary  and  pensive  in  my  primi 
tive  arbour,  ...  I  beheld  two  snakes  of  considerable  length, 
the  one  pursuing  the  other  with  great  celerity  through  a  hemp 
stubble  field.  The  aggressor  was  of  the  black  kind,  six  feet 
long ;  the  fugitive  was  a  water  snake,  nearly  of  equal  dimen 
sions.  They  soon  met,  and  in  the  fury  of  their  first  encounter, 
they  appeared  in  an  instant  firmly  twisted  together;  and 
whilst  their  united  tails  beat  the  ground,  they  mutually  tried 
with  open  jaws  to  lacerate  each  other.  .  .  .  But  notwith 
standing  this  appearance  of  mutual  courage  and  fury,  the 


3i6  APPENDIX. 


water  snake  still  seemed  desirous  of  retreating  toward  the 
ditch,  its  natural  element.  This  was  no  sooner  perceived  by 
the  keen-eyed  black  one,  than  twisting  its  tail  twice  round  a 
stalk  of  hemp,  and  seizing  its  adversary  by  the  throat,  not  by 
means  of  its  jaws,  but  by  twisting  its  own  neck  twice  round 
that  of  the  water  snake,  [it]  pulled  it  back  from  the  ditch .  To 
prevent  a  defeat  the  latter  took  hold  likewise  of  a  stalk  on 
the  bank.  .  .  .  Their  eyes  seemed  on  fire,  and  ready  to 
start  out  of  their  heads;  at  one  time  the  conflict  seemed 
decided ;  the  water  snake  bent  itself  into  two  great  folds,  and 
by  that  operation  rendered  the  other  more  than  commonly 
outstretched ;  the  next  minute  the  new  struggles  of  the  black 
one  gained  an  unexpected  superiority,  it  acquired  two  great 
folds  likewise,  which  necessarily  extended  the  body  of  its 
adversary  in  proportion  as  it  had  contracted  its  own.  .  .  . 
At  last  the  stalk  to  which  the  black  snake  fastened,  suddenly 
gave  way,  and  ...  they  both  plunged  into  the  ditch.  .  .  . 
They  soon  re-appeared  on  the  surface  twisted  together,  as  in 
their  first  onset;  but  the  black  snake  seemed  to  retain  its 
wonted  superiority,  for  its  head  was  exactly  fixed  above  that 
of  the  other,  which  it  incessantly  pressed  down  under  the 
water,  until  it  was  stifled,  and  sunk.  The  victor  ...  re 
turned  on  shore  and  disappeared.  —Letters from  an  American 
Farmer,  pp.  243-246,  ed.  1782. 

SONGS  AND  BALLADS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION. 

The  Liberty  Song.1 

Come  join  hand  in  hand,  brave  Americans  all, 
And  rouse  your  bold  hearts  at  fair  Liberty's  call; 
No  tyrannous  acts,  shall  suppress  your  just  claim, 
Or  stain  with  dishonor  America's  name. 

In  freedom  we're  born,  and  in  freedom  we'll  live; 
Our  purses  are  ready, 
Steady,  Friends,  steady, 
Not  as  slaves,  but  as  freemen  our  money  we'll  give. 

A  Ballad  of  Nathan  Hale. 
The  breezes  went  steadily  thro'  the  tall  pines, 

A  saying  "  oh  !  hu-ush  !  "  a  saying  "  oh  !  hu-ush  !  " 
As  stilly  stole  by  a  bold  legion  of  horse, 

For  Hale  in  the  bush,  for  Hale  in  the  bush. 

1  By  John  Dickinson  and  Arthur  Lee.  The  song,  which  has  nine 
stanzas,  was  first  published  in  The  Boston  Gazette  July  18  1768  and 
became  very  popular. 


REVOLUTIONARY   LITERATURE.  317 

"  Keep  still !  "  said  the  thrush  as  she  nestled  her  young, 
In  a  nest  by  the  road;   in  a  nest  by  the  road. 

"  For  the  tyrants  are  near,  and  with  them  appear, 

What  bodes  us  no  good,  what  bodes  us  no  good."  .  .  . 

The  guards  of  the  camp,  on  that  dark,  dreary  night, 
Had  a  murderous  will;   had  a  murderous  will. 

They  took  him  and  bore  him  afar  from  the  shore, 
To  a  hut  on  the  hill;  to  a  hut  on  the  hill.  .  .  » 

Five  minutes  were  given,  short  moments,  no  more, 

For  him  to  repent;   for  him  to  repent; 
He  pray'd  for  his  mother,  he  ask'd  not  another, 

To  Heaven  he  went;  to  Heaven  he  went. 

Songs  and  Ballads  of  the  American  Revolution,  pp.  37,  I3i-i33» 
ed.  by  F.  Moore,  1856. 

JOHN  TRUMBULL. 
A  Toyshop  of  Coquettish  Brains. 

First  from  the  dust  our  sex  began, 
But  woman  was  refin'd  from  man;    .   .  . 
Shall  half  your  precepts  tend  the  while 
Fair  nature's  lovely  work  to  spoil,  .  .  . 
And  make  their  minds  the  receptacle 
Of  every  thing  that 's  false  and  fickle,  .  .  . 
Where  stands  display'd  with  costly  pains 
The  toyshop  of  coquettish  brains, 
And  high-crown'd  caps  hang  out  the  sign, 
And  beaus  as  customers  throng  in;    ... 
Where  the  light  head  and  vacant  brain 
Spoil  all  ideas  they  contain, 
As  th'  air  pump  kills  in  half  a  minute 
Each  living  thing  you  put  within  it. 
—  The  Progress  of  Dulness,  Part  III.,  pp.  50,  51,  ed.  1794. 

Witty  Couplets. 

For  men  of  sense  will  always  prove 
The  most  forlorn  of  fools  in  love. 

—  Ibid.,  p.  62. 

So  once,  in  fear  of  Indian  beating, 

Our  grandsires  bore  their  guns  to  meeting,  .  .  . 

And  look'd,  in  form,  as  all  must  grant, 


3i8  APPENDIX. 

Like  th'  antient,  true  church  militant ; 
Or  tierce,  like  modern  deep  divines, 
Who  tight  with  quills,  like  porcupines. 

—  Ibid.,  p.  55. 

Tarring  and  Feathering  a  Tory. 

Forthwith  the  croud  proceed  to  deck 

With  halter'd  noose  M'Fingal's  neck,  .  .  .. 

Then  lifting  high  th'  pond'rous  jar, 

Pour'd  o'er  his  head  the  smoaking  tar.  .  «  . 

His  flowing  wig,  as  next  the  brim, 

First  met  and  drank  the  sable  stream;   .  .  „ 

From  nose  and  chin's  remotest  end, 

The  tarry  icicles  depend ; 

Till  all  o'erspread,  with  colors  gay 

He  glitter'd  to  the  western  ray, 

Like  sleet-bound  trees  in  wintry  skies, 

Or  Lapland  idol  carv'd  in  ice. 

And  now  the  feather-bag  display'd, 

Is  wav'd  in  triumph  o'er  his  head, 

And  spreads  him  o'er  with  feathers  missive, 

And  down  upon  the  tar  adhesive : 

Not  Maia's  son,  with  wings  for  ears, 

Such  plumes  around  his  visage  wears; 

Nor  Milton's  six  wing'd  angel  gathers, 

Such  superfluity  of  feathers.  .  .  . 

Then  on  the  two-wheel'd  car  of  state, 

They  rais'd  our  grand  Duumvirate.  .  .  . 

In  front  the  martial  music  comes 

Of  horns  and  fiddles,  fifes  and  drums, 

With  jingling  sound  of  carriage  bells, 

And  treble  creak  of  rusted  wheels.  .  .  . 

And  at  tit  periods  ev'ry  throat 

Combined  in  universal  shout, 

And  hail'd  great  Liberty  in  chorus, 

Or  bawl'd,  Confusion  to  the  Tories. 

—  M'Fingal,  Canto  III.,  pp.  65,  66,  ed.  1782. 

TIMOTHY  DWIGHT. 
The  Death  of  Irad. 

Again  in  ether  rose  the  dreadful  steel; 

Again  it  lighten'd,  and  again  it  fell; 

The  Heathen's,  ringing,  leap'd  from  Irad's  shield; 

The  Youth's  in  fragments,  treacherous,  strew'd  the  field. 

Held  by  a  chief,  swift-leaping  from  the  band. 


REVOLUTIONARY   LITERATURE.  319 

A  second  falchion  touch'd  his  reaching  hand, 

When  —  loveliest  Youth  !  why  did  thy  buckler's  bound 

Shield  but  thy  breast?  why  not  thy  form  surround?  .  .  . 

From  some  base  arm  unseen,  in  covert  flung, 

Through  his  white  side  a  coward  javelin  sung. 

He  fell  —  a  groan  sad-murmur'd  round  the  host, 

Their  joy,  their  glory,  and  their  leader  lost. 

—  The  Conquest  of  Canaan,  VIII.,  343-356,  ed.  1785. 

JOEL  BARLOW. 

Gory  War. 

Columbus  turn'd;   when  rolling  to  the  shore 
Swells  o'er  the  seas  an  undulating  roar; 
Slow,  dark,  portentous,  as  the  meteors  sweep, 
And  curtain  black  the  illimitable  deep, 
High  stalks,  from  surge  to  surge,  a  demon  Form, 
That  howls  thro  heaven  and  breathes  a  billowing  storm. 
His  head  is  hung  with  clouds;   his  giant  hand 
Flings  a  blue  flame  far  flickering  to  the  land; 
His  blood-stain'd  limbs  drip  carnage  as  he  strides, 
And  taint  with  gory  grume  the  staggering  tides; 
Like  two  red  suns  his  quivering  eyeballs  glare, 
His  mouth  disgorges  all  the  stores  of  war, 
Pikes,  muskets,  mortars,  guns  and  globes  of  fire, 
And  lighted  bombs  that  fusing  trails  expire. 
Percht  on  his  helmet,  two  twin  sisters  rode, 
The  favorite  offspring  of  the  murderous  god, 
Famine  and  Pestilence;   whom  whilom  bore 
His  wife,  grim  Discord,  on  Trinacria's  shore; 
When  first  their  Cyclop  sons,  from  Etna's  forge, 
Fill'd  his  foul  magazine,  his  gaping  gorge : 
Then  earth  convulsive  groan'd,  high  shriek'd  the  air, 
And  hell  in  gratulation  call'd  him  War. 

—  The  Columbiad,  V.,  471-492,  ed.  1807. 

The  Hasty -Pudding. 

Where  the  huge  heap  lies  center'd  in  the  hall, 
The  lamp  suspended  from  the  cheerful  wall, 
Brown  corn-fed  nymphs,  and  strong  hard-handed  beaux, 
Alternate  rang'd,  extend  in  circling  rows, 
Assume  their  seats,  the  solid  mass  attack; 
The  dry  husks  rattle,  and  the  corn-cobs  crack; 
The  song,  the  laugh,  alternate  notes  resound, 
And  the  sweet  cider  trips  in  silence  round. 
The  laws  of  Husking  ev'ry  wight  can  tell; 


320  APPENDIX. 

And  sure  no  laws  he  ever  keeps  so  well : 

For  each  red  ear  a  general  kiss  he  gains, 

With  each  smut  ear  she  smuts  the  luckless  swains; 

But  when  to  some  sweet  maid  a  prize  is  cast, 

Red  as  her  lips,  and  taper  as  her  waist, 

She  walks  the  round,  and  culls  one  favor'd  beau 

Who  leaps,  the  luscious  tribute  to  bestow. 

****** 
There  is  a  choice  in  spoons.     Tho'  small  appear 
The  nice  distinction,  yet  to  me  'tis  clear. 
The  deep  bowl'd  Gallic  spoon,  contriv'd  to  scoop 
In  ample  draughts  the  thin  diluted  soup, 
Performs  not  well  in  those  substantial  things, 
Whose  mass  adhesive  to  the  metal  clings; 
Where  the  strong  labial  muscles  must  embrace 
The  gentle  curve,  and  sweep  the  hollow  space. 
With  ease  to  enter  and  discharge  the  freight, 
A  bowl  less  concave  but  still  more  dilate, 
Becomes  the  pudding  best.  .  .  . 
Fear  not  to  slaver;   'tis  no  deadly  sin. 
Like  the  free  Frenchman,  from  your  joyous  chin 
Suspend  the  ready  napkin;   or,  like  me, 
Poise  with  one  hand  your  bowl  upon  your  knee; 
Just  in  the  zenith  your  wise  head  preject, 
Your  full  spoon,  rising  in  a  line  direct, 
Bold  as  a  bucket,  heeds  no  drops  that  fall, 
The  wide  mouth'd  bowl  will  surely  catch  them  all. 

—  The  Hasty- Pudding,  Canto  III.,  pp.  9-12,  ed.  1796. 

PHILIP  FRENEAU. 
The  House  of  Night.1 

O'er  a  dark  field  I  held  my  dubious  way 

Where  Jack-a-lanthorn  walk'd  his  lonely  round, 

Beneath  my  feet  substantial  darkness  lay, 

And  screams  were  heard  from  the  distemper'd  ground. 

Nor  looked  I  back,  till  to  a  far  off  wood 
Trembling  with  fear,  my  weary  feet  had  sped  — 
Dark  was  the  night,  but  at  the  inchanted  dome 
I  saw  the  infernal  windows  flaming  red.  .  .  . 

Dim  burnt  the  lamp,  and  now  the  phantom  Death 
Gave  his  last  groans  in  horror  and  despair  — 

1  In  which  Death  is  dying. 


'REVOLUTIONARY  LITERATURE.         321 

"All  hell  demands  me  hence"  —  he  said,  and  threw 
The  red  lamp  hissing  through  the  midnight  air. 
-The  House  of  Nig/it,  stanzas   109,    no,   117,  in    The  Poems  of 
Philip  Freneau,  ed.  1786. 

The  Wild  Honey  Suckle! 
Fair  flower,  that  dost  so  comely  grow, 
Hid  in  this  silent,  dull  retreat, 
Untouch'd  thy  honey'd  blossoms  blow, 
Unseen  thy  little  branches  greet : 

No  roving  foot  shall  find  thee  here, 

No  busy  hand  provoke  a  tear. 

By  Nature's  self  in  white  array'd, 
She  bade  thee  shun  the  vulgar  eye, 
And  planted  here  the  guardian  shade, 
And  sent  soft  waters  murmuring  by; 

Thus  quietly  thy  summer  goes, 

Thy  days  declining  to  repose. 

Smit  with  those  charms,  that  must  decay, 

I  grieve  to  see  your  future  doom; 

They  died  —  nor  were  those  flowers  less  gay, 

The  flowers  that  did  in  Eden  bloom; 

•Unpitying  frosts,  and  Autumn's  power 
Shall  leave  no  vestige  of  this  flower. 

From  morning  suns  and  evening  dews 
At  first  thy  little  being  came  : 
If  nothing  once,  you  nothing  lose, 
For  when  you  die  you  are  the  same; 
The  space  between,  is  but  an  hour, 
The  frail  duration  of  a  flower. 

-Poems  by  Philip  Freneau,   ed.  1795.      (The  text   in  the    1788 
edition  is  inferior.) 

HENRY  H.  BRACKENRIDGE. 
Warren's  Speech  at  Bunker  Hill. 
To  arms,  brave  countrymen,  for  see  the  foe, 
Comes  forth  to  battle,  and  would  seem  to  try, 
Once  more,  their  fortune  in  decisive  war.  .  .  . 
.  .  .  Our  noble  ancestors, 
Out-brav'd  the  tempests,  of  the  hoary  deep, 

1  The  entire  poem  is  given. 


322 


APPENDIX. 

And  on  these  hills,  uncultivate  and  wild, 

Sought  an  asylum,  from  despotic  sway; 

A  short  asylum,  for  that  envious  power, 

With  persecution  dire,  still  follows  us.  ... 

Remember  March,  brave  countrymen,  that  day, 

When  Boston's  streets  ran  blood.     Think  on  that  day, 

And  let  the  memory,  to  revenge,  stir  up, 

The  temper  of  your  souls.  .  .  .     Let  every  arm, 

This  day  be  active  in  fair  freedom's  cause, 

And  shower  down,  from  the  hill,  like  Heav'n  in  wrath, 

Full  store  of  lightning,  and  fierce  iron  hail, 

To  blast  the  adversary. 

—  The  Battle  of  Bunker's- Hill,  V.,  i.,  ed.  1776. 


B. 


NEWSPAPERS  AND  MAGAZINES  — COLLEGES  — 
THE   NEW   ENGLAND   PRIMER. 

NEWSPAPERS  AND  MAGAZINES. 1 

The  first  newspaper  established  in  America  was  The  Boston 
News-Letter,  a  weekly,  which  ran  from  1704  to  I776.2  It 
was  usually  printed  on  a  (printer's)  half-sheet,  and  contained 
short  pieces  of  foreign  and  domestic  news.  Its  space  was  so 
scanty  that  in  1719  it  had  got  thirteen  months  behindhand 
with  the  foreign  news  from  regions  beyond  Great  Britain  ;  lor 
some  time,  therefore,  a  whole  sheet  was  printed  every  other 
week,  until  the  publisher  was  able  to  announce  proudly  that 
that  part  of  his  news-record  was  "  now  less  than  five  months  " 
behindhand.  The  Boston  Gazette  was  started  in  1719;  The 
New  England  Courant  in  1721.  Several  other  papers  were 
started  in  Boston  within  the  next  fifteen  years ;  but  only  one 
of  them,  The  Boston  Evening-Post,  continued  to  the  Revolu 
tion.  In  1768  The  Boston  Chronicle  began  to  appear  twice  a 
week.  In  1770  The  Massachusetts  Spy  was  published  thrice 
a  week  for  a  few  months  ;  in  1771  it  became  a  weekly,  but  of 
larger  size  than  any  which  had  yet  appeared  in  Boston,  being 
printed  on  a  whole  sheet,  four  columns  to  a  page.  Pennsyl 
vania  was  only  a  little  behind  Massachusetts,  the  third  news 
paper  in  America,  The  American  Weekly  Mercitry,  being 
started  in  Philadelphia,  Dec.  22,  1719,  one  day  later  than 
The  Boston  Gazette.  The  second  newspaper  in  the  colony, 
The  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  founded  in  1728,  was  bought  in 
1729  by  Franklin,  who  published  it  twice  a  week  for  a  while 
and  soon' made  it  very  profitable.  Several  other  Pennsylvania 
newspapers  (some  of  them  in  German)  sprang  up  at  various 
times  before  the  Revolution.  The  first  daily  newspaper  in 

1  Most  of  the  facts  are  taken  from  Thomas's  History  of  Printing  in 
America. 

2  A  newspaper,  Publick  Occurrences,  was  started  in  Boston  in  1690, 
but  the  authorities  suppressed  it  after  the  first  issue. 

323 


324 


APPENDIX. 


the  United  States,  The  Pennsylvania  Packet  and  Daily  Ad 
vertiser,  was  founded  in  Philadelphia  in  1784.  The  colony 
of  New  York  was  the  third  in  the  field,  The  New  York  Gazette 
making  its  appearance  in  1725.  Before  1770  eight  other 
newspapers  had  been  started  in  New  York,  although  some 
lived  but  a  short  time.  Virginia  had  but  two  newspapers 
before  the  Revolution,  founded  in  1736  and  1766  respectively. 
In  Maryland  the  first  newspaper  was  started  in  1727;  in 
Rhode  Island  and  South  Carolina,  in  1732;  in  Connecticut 
and  North  Carolina,  in  1755;  in  New  Hampshire,  in  1756; 
in  Delaware,  in  1762;  in  Georgia,  in  1763.  At  the  outbreak 
of  the  Revolution  there  were  in  the  colonies  37  newspapers, 
distributed  as  follows:  Pennsylvania,  9;  Massachusetts,  7; 
New  York,  4;  Connecticut,  4;  South  Carolina,  3;  Rhode 
Island,  Maryland,  Virginia,  and  North  Carolina,  2  each  ;  New 
Hampshire 'and  Georgia,  i  each.  Not  to  be  deceived  by 
words  we  should  remember  that  the  stunted  little  newspapers 
of  Colonial  and  Revolutionary  times  were,  in  size,  circulation, 
and  amount  of  news,  very  different  from  the  journals  of  to-day. 
The  "  editorial,"  too,  in  its  modern  sense,  was  unknown  to 
our  great-grandfathers  ;  letters  to  the  publisher  took  its  place 
to  some  extent,  and  in  times  of  public  excitement  the  old 
Gazettes  and  Mercuries  might  do  a  good  deal  to  indicate  and 
to  mould  public  sentiment.  But  in  general  the  Colonial  and 
Revolutionary  newspaper  not  only  presented  little  news  but 
had  little  or  nothing  to  say  about  it. 

The  American  magazines,  like  the  newspapers,  closely  fol 
lowed  English  models,  and  were  not  much  if  at  all  inferior. 
To  the  modern  reader,  however,  they  seem  on  the  whole 
feeble,  dry,  and  dull.  Some  idea  of  them  may  be  had  from 
the  plan  set  forth  in  the  preface  to  The  American  Magazine 
and  Monthly  Chronicle  for  the  British  Colonies,  which  was 
launched  in  1757,  at  Philadelphia,  "By  a  Society  of  Gentle 
men,"  and  is  a  superior  sample  of  its  class  :  each  number  was 
to  contain  " an  account  of  European  affairs "  ;  "a  philosophi 
cal  miscellany  "  ;  "  monthly  essays,  in  prose  and  verse  "  ;  "a 
history  of  the  present  war  in  North-America " ;  "  monthly 
transactions  in  each  colony,  the  account  of  new  b<3pks,  ... 
preferments,  births,  marriages,  deaths,  arrivals  of  ships,  prices 
current."  The  emphasis  on  the  practical  and  instructive  is 
evident ;  of  entertainment  little  was  sought,  and  little  found. 
Yet  on  the  whole  the  talent  available  for  these  maga 
zines  was  greater  than  the  demand  for  them,  and  few  and 
evil  were  the  days  of  their  pilgrimage.  The  American  Maga- 


NEWSPAPERS,  MAGAZINES,  COLLEGES.       325 

sine  and  Historical  Chronicle,  a  monthly  of  fifty  pages,  estab 
lished  at  Boston  in  1743,  ran  three  years  and  four  months. 
7^he  New  England  Magazine  of  Knowledge  and  Pleasure,  a 
monthly  which  came  out  when  it  could,  after  the  appearance 
of  three  or  four  numbers  in  the  course  of  six  or  seven  months, 
was  discontinued  in  1759.  The  Royal  American  Magazine, 
printed  in  handsome  type,  with  two  copperplate  engravings 
in  each  number,  began  to  be  issued  at  Boston  in  January, 
1774;  it  had  a  considerable  list  of  subscribers,  but  the  battle 
of  Lexington  killed  it.  In  Pennsylvania  conditions  were  also 
unfavorable  for  longevity.  The  General  Magazine  lived  only 
six  months,  in  1741.  The  American  Magazine  (already  men 
tioned)  seems  to  have  died  in  a  year.  The  Pennsylvania 
Magazine,  edited  and  written,  in  part,  by  Thomas  Paine,  was 
started  in  January,  1775,  and  died  in  July,  1776,  the  last 
number  containing  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  The 
United  States  Magazine,  edited  by  H.  H.  Brackenridge,  with 
Philip  Freneau  as  a  leading  contributor,  was  published  at 
Philadelphia  through  1779,  and  was  then  discontinued  "until 
an  established  peace  and  a  fixed  value  of  the  money  shall 
render  it  convenient  or  possible  to  take  it  up  again.11  After 
the  war,  magazines  were  again  attempted.  The  Boston  Maga 
zine  came  in  and  went  out  with  the  year  1785.  The  Colum 
bian  Magazine,  started  in  1786,  lived  three  years.  The 
American  Museum  was  established  in  1787.  Other  maga 
zines  made  their  appearance  from  time  to  time,  and  had  some 
success.  But  it  was  not  until  1815,  thirteen  years  after  the 
founding  of  The  Edinburgh  Review  had  inaugurated  a  new 
era  for  magazines  in  Great  Britain,  that  American  magazine 
literature  was  placed  upon  a  solid  basis  by  the  establishment 
of  The  North  American  Review. 

COLLEGES. 

The  intellectuality  of  the  stock  which  peopled  British 
America  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  they  early  established  col 
leges.  Harvard  College  was  opened1  in  1638;  William  and 
Mary  College,  Virginia,  in  1694;  Yale  College  in  1701  ;  Col 
lege  of  New  Jersey  (now  Princeton  University)  in  1746; 
Washington  and  Lee  University,  Virginia,  in  1749;  Univer- 

1  The  dates  of  founding  or  chartering  are  often  different  from  the 
dates  of  actual  opening.  Thus  Harvard  was  founded  in  1636,  by  a 
vote  of  the  Legislature  appropriating  money ;  it  was  chartered  in  1650. 
The  dates  here  given  are  taken  from  Johnson 's  Universal  Cyclopaedia. 


326  APPENDIX. 

sity  of  Pennsylvania  in  1753;  King's  College  (now  Columbia 
University)  in  1754;  Frederick  College,  Maryland,  in  1763; 
Rhode  Island  College  (now  Brown  University)  in  1765  ;  Rut 
gers  College,  New  Jersey,  in  1770;  Dartmouth  College  in 
1770;  Hampden-Sidney  College,  Virginia,  in  1776;  Wash 
ington  College,  Maryland,  in  1782  ;  Dickinson  College,  Penn 
sylvania,  in  1783;  College  of  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  in 
1785.  Thus  before  the  Revolution  nine  of  the  thirteen  colo 
nies  had  institutions  of  higher  learning.  These  colonial 
colleges  were  of  course  small  and  poorly  equipped.  But  most 
of  them  nevertheless  did  good  work,  especially  in  the  classics. 
The  requirements  for  admission  to  Harvard  are  thus  stated 
by  Cotton  Mather  in  his  Magnalia  (Book  IV.,  p.  127,  ed. 
1702) :  "When  Scholars  had  so  far  profited  at  the  Grammar 
Schools,  that  they  could  Read  any  Classical  Author  into 
English,  and  readily  make,  and  speak  true  Latin,  and  Write 
it  in  Verse  as  well  as  Prose ;  and  perfectly  Decline  the  Para 
digms  of  Nouns  and  Verbs  in  the  Greek  Tongue,  they  were 
judged  capable  of  Admission  into  Harvard-Colledge."  The 
college  course,  in  Harvard  at  least,  "embraced  the  contem 
poraneous  learning  of  the  colleges  in  England,11  *  including 
(in  1643)  rhetoric,  logic,  ethics,  divinity,  arithmetic,  geometry, 
physics,  astronomy,  Greek,  Latin,  Hebrew,  Syriac,  Chaldee, 
etc.1  President  Dunster  wrote  in  1649  that  some  of  the 
Harvard  students  could  "with  ease  dexterously  translate 
Hebrew  and  Chaldee  into  Greek.11'2  This  steeping  in  the 
great  languages  and  literatures  of  antiquity  was  one  of  the 
best  possible  ways  to  prepare  for  the  creation,  later,  of  a 
worthy  literature  in  the  mother  tongue.  The  American  poets 
and  novelists  were  yet  to  be  born.  Meanwhile  their  ancestors 
wisely  conned  the  pages  of  Homer,  Virgil,  and  Cicero. 

THE  NEW  ENGLAND  PRIMER. 3 

From  this  curious  little  book  the  children  of  New  England, 
for  a  century  and  a  half,  learned  the  elements  of  religion  and 
morality  as  well  as  of  reading.  The  first  compiler  of  it 
seems  to  have  been  Benjamin  Harris,  a  Boston  publisher, 
who,  before  he  fled  from  England  in  1686,  had  printed  The 

1  Peirce's  A  History  of  Harvard  University,  p.  7;  Appendix,  pp.  6,  7. 

2  Felt's  The  Ecclesiastical  History  of  New  England,  Vol.  II.,  p.  10. 

8  See  two  articles  by  J.  H.  Trumbull  in  The  Sunday  School  Times, 
April  29  and  May  6,  1882 ;  and  The  New-England  Primer,  by  P.  L. 
Ford  (Dodd,  Mead  &  Co.,  1897). 


THE   NEW   ENGLAND    PRIMER.  327 

Protestant  Tutor,  which  had  several  of  the  distinctive  features 
of  the  Primer,  and  was  (says  Mr.  Ford)  its  "legitimate  prede 
cessor."  The  Primer  is  also  the  descendant  of  a  line  of 
English  primers,  running  back  through  many  centuries.  The 
earliest  surviving  reference  to  it  is  in  an  almanac  for  1691, 
published  by  Harris,  in  which  he  advertised  as  forthcoming 
"a  Second  Impression  of  the  New-England  Primer  enlarged, 
to 'which  is  added,  more  Directions  for  Spelling,"  etc.  The 
first  edition  must  have  appeared  (says  Mr.  Ford)  between 
1687  and  1690.  The  earliest  extant  complete  copy  was  pub 
lished  at  Boston  in  1737.  The  book  was  reprinted  number 
less  times  in  the  eighteenth  century,  with  various  changes  and 
additions,1  and  lias  often  been  reproduced  since  as  a  curiosity. 
In  its  sombre  and  dogmatic  religiousness,  severe  morality, 
and  defective  aesthetic  sense  (as  shown  by  the  doggerel  verse 
and  rude  wood-cuts),  The  New  England  Primer  is  a  mirror 
of  the  times  which  produced  and  used  it.  It  passes  rapidly, 
and  without  apparent  sense  of  incongruity,  from  hard  sense 
or  sublime  theology  to  the  puerile  and  trivial.  Some  idea  of 
the  Primer  may  be  had  from  a  description  of  a  copy  printed 
(as  the  frontispiece  shows)  sometime  during  Washington's 
presidency.  It  is  a  quaint  little  book,  four  inches  long,  two 
and  three-fourths  inches  wide,  and  one-third  of  an  inch  thick. 
The  lids  are  of  wood,  covered  with  pale-blue  paper  and  united 
by  a  leather  back.  The  title-page  reads  thus  :  "  The  New- 
England  Primer,  or,  an  easy  and  pleasant  Guide  to  the  Art  of 
Reading.  Adorn'd  with  Cutts.  To  which  are  added,  The 
Assembly  of  Divines1  Catechism.  Boston  :  Printed  and  sold 
by  J.  White,  near  Charles-River  Bridge."  On  the  reverse  are 
two  stanzas  to  children,  ending  with 

Nor  dare  indulge  a  meaner  flame, 
'Till  you  have  lov'd  the  Lord. 

The  alphabet  follows  ;  then  come  "  Easy  Syllables  for  Chil 
dren  " —  ab,  ac,  eb,  ec,  etc.  ;  and  in  five  pages  more,  a  bo  mi 
na  ti  on  and  a  scanty  assortment  of  other  "Words  of  six 
Syllables  "  are  reached.  Art  and  poetry  are  now  wedded  to 
the  alphabet  in  twenty-four  couplets  or  triplets,  illustrated  by 
inimitable  wood-cuts  apparently  made  by  the  printer  with 
his  pocket-knife.  Some  of  the  choicest  lines  are  these: 

1  Some  editions  reprinted  John  Cotton's  Spiritual  Milk  for  Amer 
ican  Babes,  Drawn  out  of  the  Breasts  of  Botk  Testament's,  for  their 
Souls  Nourishment. 


328  APPENDIX. 

"In  Adam's  fall,  We  sinned  all";  '-Young  6>badias,  David, 
Josias,  All  were  pious1';  "A'erxes  did  die,  And  so  must 
I";  "Zaccheus,  he  Did  climb  the  tree,  Our  Lord  to  see." 
After  some  other  matter,  including  the  statement  that  "  He 
that  don't  learn  his  A  B  C\  For  ever  will  a  blockhead  be," 
come  the  Lord's  Prayer  and  the  Apostles1  Creed.  Treading 
close  on  the  heels  of  these  sublime  passages  intrudes  some 
pious  doggerel,  beginning, 

I  in  the  burying  place  may  see 
Graves  shorter  there  than  I. 

This  is  at  once  succeeded  by  Watts's  pretty  Cradle  Hymn, 

Hush,  my  dear,  lie  still  and  slumber, 
Holy  Angels  guard  thy  bed, 

and  his  "Now  I  lay  me  down  to  sleep,"  both  which  are 
still  sacred  memories  to  millions.  They  are  but  thinly 
fenced  off  by  Agitr's  Prayer  from  a  marvellous  cut  which 
represents  "Mr.  John  Rogers,  minister  of  the  gospel,"  "  the 
first  martyr  in  Queen  Mary's  reign,"  burning  at  the  stake, 
while  "his  wife,  with  nine  small  children,  and  one  at  her 
breast," *  calmly  look  on  ;  several  pages  of  metrical  advice, 
which  unhappily  escaped  the  author's  fate,  follow.  Then 
comes  The  Shorter  Catechism,  which  fills  most  of  the  latter 
half  of  the  book.  The  solemn  questions  and  answers  are 
still  sounding  in  our  ears  when  we  are  exhorted  to  "  Let  dogs 
delight  to  bark  and  bite  "  ;  children  are  once  more  reminded 
that  until  their  u breast  glows  with  sacred  love"  they  should 
"indulge  no  meaner  fires";  and  the  Primer  ends  with  this 
secular  stanza,  which  is  all  the  same  as  if  a  Puritan  congre 
gation  were  to  come  out  of  church  in  a  jig :  — 

Here  's  Tom,  Dick,  and  Benny, 

With  pitchfork  and  with  rake; 
Sally,  Kate,  and  Jenny, 

Come  here  the  hay  to  make. 

1  Many  were  the  hours  spent  by  the  curious  school-boy  in  wrestling 
with  the  question  whether  there  were  ten  children  in  all  or  only  nine. 
The  obscure  wood-cut  but  darkened  the  problem,  which  is  still  un 
solved. 


c. 

PARTIAL   BIBLIOGRAPHY    OF   COLONIAL   AND 
REVOLUTIONARY   LITERATURE. 

[Many  of  the  titles  are  copied  from  first  editions;  most  of  the  others,  from 
Sabin's  Bibliotheca  Americana.  The  titles  are  often  abridged;  but  what  is 
given  is  reproduced  as  exactly  as  possible,  and  anything  added  is  enclosed  in 
brackets.] 

I.     COLONIAL  PERIOD, 
i.   VIRGINIA. 

A  Trve  Relation  of  such  occurrences  and  accidents  of  noate  as  hath 
hapned  in  Virginia  since  the  first  planting  of  that  Collony.  Written 
by  Captaine  Smith.  London,  1608. 

A  True  Repertory  of  the  Wracke,  and  Redemption  of  Sir  Thomas 
Gates,  Knight.  By  William  Strachey.  London,  1610. 

Good  Nevves  from  Virginia.  From  Alexander  Whitaker.  London, 
1613. 

The  Generall  Historic  of  Virginia,  New-England,  and  the  Summer  Isles. 
By  Captaine  lohn  Smith.  London,  1624. 

Ovids  Metamorphosis  Englished  by  G.  S.  [George  Sandys].  London, 
1626. 

A  Voyage  to  Virginia.  By  Colonel  Norwood,  [n.  p.  n.  d.]  [Reprinted  : 
Force's  Historical  Tracts,  Vol.  III.] 

Leah  and  Rachel,  or,  the  Two  Fruitfull  Sisters  Virginia,  and  Mary-Land. 
By  John  Hammond.  London,  1656.  [Reprinted:  Force's  Histor 
ical  Tracts,  Vol.  III.] 

A  Song  of  Sion.  Written  by  a  Citizen  thereof  [John  Grave],  whose 
outward  Habitation  is  in  Virginia.  [England.]  1662. 

History  of  Virginia.  By  a  Native  and  Inhabitant  of  the  Place  [Robert 
Beverley].  The  second  edition.  London,  1722.  [The  first  edition 
(London,  1705)  was  smaller.] 

The  Present  State  of  Virginia.  By  Hugh  Jones,  A.M.  London,  1724. 
[Reprinted  :  Sabin's  Reprints,  No.  5.] 

The  Westover  Manuscripts :  containing  the  History  of  the  Dividing 
Line  betwixt  Virginia  and  North  Carolina;  a  Journey  to  the  Land 
of  Eden,  A.D.  1733;  and  a  Progress  to  the  Mines.  Written  from 
1728  to  1736,  and  now  first  published.  By  William  Byrd,  of  West- 
over.  Petersburg,  1841. 

329 


330  APPENDIX. 

History  of  the  Dividing  Line  and  Other  Tracts.     From  the  Papers  of 

William  Byrd.     Richmond,  1866. 

Poems  on  Several  Occasions.     By  a  Gentleman  of  Virginia.     Williams- 
burg,  1736. 
The  History  of  the  First  Discovery  and  Settlement  of  Virginia.      By 

William  Stith,  A.M.     Williamsburg,  1747. 

2.    NEW  ENGLAND. 

A  Description  of  New  England ;  or,  The  Observations,  and  discoueries 
of  Captain  lohn  Smith.  London,  1616.  [Reprinted:  Force's  His 
torical  Tracts,  Vol.  II.] 

A  Relation  or  lournall  of  the  beginning  and  proceedings  of  the  English 
Plantation  setled  at  Plimoth.  [By  William  Bradford  and  Edward 
Winslow.]  London,  1622.  [Long  known  as  Mourt's  Relation. 
Reprinted  :  Library  of  New-England  History,  No.  I ;  portions  of,  in 
Coll.  Mass.  Hist.  Soc.,  Series  2,  Vol.  IX.] 

Bradford's  History  "  Of  Plimoth  Plantation."  From  the  Original  Manu 
script.  With  a  Report  of  the  Proceedings  Incident  to  the  Return  of 
the  Manuscript  to  Massachusetts.  Boston,  1898.  [Also  in  Coll. 
Mass.  Hist.  Soc.,  Series  4,  Vol.  III.] 

New-England.  Or  A  Briefe  Enarration  of  the  Ayre,  Earth,  Water,  Fish 
and  Fowles  of  that  Country.  With  a  Description  of  the  Natures, 
Orders,  Habits,  and  Religion  of  the  Natiues;  in  Latine  and  English 
Verse.  [By  William  Morrell.]  London,  1625.  [Reprinted :  The 
Club  of  Odd  Volumes,  Boston,  1895,  in  photographic  facsimile  from 
a  copy  of  the  first  -vlition  in  the  British  Museum;  Coll.  Mass.  Hist. 
Soc.,  Series  i,  Vol.  1.,  but  with  only  the  Latin  title,  Nova-Anglia.] 

A  Journal  of  the  Transactions  and  Occurrences  in  the  settlement  of 
"Massachusetts  and  the  other  New-England  Colonies,  from  the  year 
1630  to  1644.  Written  by  John  Winthrop,  and  now  first  published 
from  a  correct  copy  of  the  original  Manuscript.  Hartford,  1790. 
[Reprinted  at  Boston,  1825,  1826,  as  The  History  of  New  England. 
This  edition  included  the  third  volume  of  the  manuscript,  bringing 
the  record  down  to  1649.] 

Some  Old  Puritan  Love- Letters  —  John  and  Margaret  Winthrop  — 
1618-1638.  Edited  by  J.  H.  Twichell.  New  York:  Dodd,  Mead  & 
Co.,  1893. 

Nevv-Englands  Plantation.  Written  by  a  reuerend  Diuine  now  there 
resident  [Francis  Higginson].  London,  1630.  [Reprinted:  Force's 
Historical  Tracts,  Vol.  I.;  Coll.  Mass.  Hist.  Soc.,  Series  i,  Vol.  I.] 

New  Englands  Prospect.  By  William  Wood.  London,  1634.  [Re 
printed  :  Pub.  Prince  Soc.,  Vol.  I.] 

New  English  Canaan.  By  Thomas  Morton.  Amsterdam,  1637.  [Re 
printed :  Force's  Historical  Tracts,  Vol.  II.;  Pub.  Prince  Soc.,  Vol. 
XV.] 

The  Freeman's  Oath.  [Cambridge.]  1639.  [The  first  thing  printed 
in  America.  See  Winthrop's  The  History  of  New  England,  Vol.  I., 
p.  289,  ed.  1825.] 

The  Whole  Booke  of  Psalmes  Faithfully  Translated  into  English  Metre. 
[Cambridge.]  1640.  [Said  to  be  the  first  book  printed  in  America.- 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  —  COLONIAL  PERIOD.        331 

The  copy  in  the  John  Carter  Brown  Library,  Providence,  has  the  auto 
graph  of  Richard  Mather,  one  of  the  three  principal  translators.] 

Simplicities  Defence  against  Seven-headed  Policy.  Or  Innocency  Vin 
dicated,  being  unjustly  Accused  ...  by  that  Seven-headed  Church- 
Government  united  in  New-England.  [By  Samuel  Gorton.]  London, 
1646. 

The  Soules  Implantation  into  the  Natur,all  Olive.  By  T.  H.  [Thomas 
Hooker].  London,  1640. 

The  Simple  Cobler  of  Aggavvam  in  America.  Willing  to  help  "mend 
his  Native  Country,  lamentably  tattered,  both  in  the  upper-Leather 
and  sole,  with  all  the  honest  stitches  he  can  take.  By  Theodore  de 
la  Guard  [Nathaniel  Ward].  London,  1647.  [Reprinted  :  London, 
1647,  three  editions;  Boston,  1713;  Force's  Historical  Tracts,  Vol. 
III.] 

Mercurius  Anti-mechanicus.  Or  The  Simple  Coblers  Boy.  By  Theo 
dore  de  la  Guarden  [Nathaniel  Ward?].  London,  1648. 

The  Parable  of  the  Ten  Virgins  opened  &  applied.  By  Thomas 
Shepard.  London,  1660. 

The  Psalms,  Hymns,  and  Spiritual  Songs  of  the  Old  and  New  Testa 
ment,  Faithfully  Translated  into  English  Metre.  For  the  use,  edifi 
cation  and  comfort  of  the  Saints  in  publick  and  private,  especially  in 
New-England.  Cambridge,  Printed  for  Hezekiah  Usher,  of  Bostoo. 
[1658?]  [This  work,  appearing  first  in  1651,  exists  in  several  slightly 
different  forms.  "  The  only  copy  of  this  edition  [the  one  above]  that 
I  know  of  was  sold  at  the  Brinley  sale  for  $90,  and  is  now  in  the 
library  of  Brown  University."  —  Sabin's  Bibliotheca  Americana.] 

The  Tenth  Muse  lately  sprung  up  in  America.  Or  Severall  Poems, 
compiled  with  great  variety  of  Wit  and  Learning,  full  of  delight. 
By  a  Gentlewoman  in  those  parts  [Anne  Bradstreet] .  London,  1650. 

Several  Poems.  By  a  Gentlewoman  in  New-England  [Anne  Bradstreet]. 
The  second  Edition,  Corrected  by  the  Author,  and  enlarged  by  an 
Addition  of  several  other  Poems  found  amongst  her  Papers  after  her 
Death.  Boston,  1678.  [Reprinted :  1758.] 

The  Works  of  Anne  Bradstreet  in  Prose  and  Verse.  Edited  by  J.  H. 
Ellis.  Charleston,  1867.  [Full  biographical  introduction.] 

A  History  of  New-England.  From  the  English  planting  in  the  Yeere 
1628.  untill  the  Yeere  1652.  [By  Edward  Johnson.]  [The  running 
title  is  "  Wonder-working  Providence  of  Sions  Saviour,  in  New  Eng 
land."]  London,  1654.  [Reprinted  :  Coll.  Mass.  Hist.  Soc.,  Series 
2,Vols.  1 1. -VI 1 1.] 

The  Day  of  Doom;  or,  A  Description  of  the  Great  and  Last  Judgment. 
With  a  short  Discourse  about  Eternity.  [By  Michael  Wigglesworth.] 
London,  1673.  [First  edition,  1661  or  1662?  Reprinted:  Boston, 
1715,  1751,  1828;  Newburyport,  1811.] 

Meat  out  of  the  Eater:  or,  Meditations  concerning  the  Necessity,  End, 
and  Usefulness  of  Afflictions  unto  God's  Children.  By  Michael 
Wigglesworth.  The  Fifth  Edition.  Boston,  1717.  [First  edition, 
1669.  On  the  fly-leaf  of  the  Brown  University  Library's  copy  is 
written  in  ink,  "6  of  August  1729  Prise.  Jonathan  Trask  His 
Book."] 

A  Key  into  the  Language  of  America:  or,  An  help  to  the  Language  of 


332  APPENDIX. 

the  Natives  in  that  part  of  America,  called  New-England.  Together, 
with  briefe  Observations  of  the  Customes,  Manners  and  Worships, 
&c.  of  the  aforesaid  Natives.  On  all  which  are  added  Spiritual  Ob 
servations.  By  Roger  Williams.  London,  1643. 

The  Blovdy  Tenent,  of  Persecution,  for  cause  of  Conscience,  discuss'd, 
in  a  Conference  betweene  Trvth  and  Peace.  [By  Roger  Williams.] 
[London.]  1644.  [The  Brown  University  Library  contains  a  copy 
of  the  very  rare  second  edition,  published  in  the  same  year.] 

The  Bloudy  Tenent  Washed,  and  made  white  in  the  bloud  of  the  Lambe. 
Whereunto  is  added  a  Reply  to  Mr.  Williams  Answer,  to  Mr.  Cot 
tons  Letter.  By  John  Cotton.  London,  1647. 

The  Bloody  Tenent  yet  More  Bloody  :  by  Mr.  Cottons  endevour  to  wash 
it  white  in  the  Blood  of  the  Lambe.  Also  a  Letter  to  Mr  Endicot 
Governor  of  the  Massachusets  in  N.  E.  By  R.  Williams.  London, 
1652.  [On  the  fly-leaf  of  the  Brown  University  Library's  copy  is 
written  in  Williams's  hand,  "  For  his  honoured  &  beloved  Mr  John 
Clarke  an  eminent  witness  of  Christ  Jesus  agst  ye  bloodie  Doctrine 
of  Persecution  &c."] 

George  Fox  Digg'd  out  of  his  Burrovves.  By  R.  W.  [Roger  Williams]. 
Boston,  1676. 

A  New-England  Fire-Brand  Quenched,  Being  Something  in  Answer 
unto  a  Lying,  Slanderous  Book,  Entituled ;  George  Fox  Digged  out 
of  his  Burrows,  &c.  Where-unto  is  added,  A  Catalogue  of  his 
Railery,  Lies,  Scorn  &  Blasphemies.  By  George  Fox  and  John 
Bvrnyeat.  [n.  p.]  1678. 

New-Englands  Memorial!.      By  Nathaniel  Morton.    Cambridge,  1669. 

New-Englands  Rarities  Discovered :  in  Birds,  Beasts,  Fishes,  Serpents, 
and  Plants.  Also  a  perfect  Description  of  an  Indian  Sqva,  in  all 
her  Bravery;  with  a  Poem  not  improperly  conferr'd  upon  her.  By 
John  Josselyn.  London,  1672. 

A  Brief  History  of  the  Pequot  War.  By  Major  John  Mason.  Boston, 
1736.  [Written,  1670.  Printed  (imperfectly)  in  Relation  of  the 
Troubles  in  New  England  by  Reason  of  the  Indians,  by  Increase 
Mather,  1677.  Reprinted :  Coll.  Mass.  Hist.  Soc.,  Series  2,  Vol. 
VIII.] 

A  Brief  Narrative  of  the  Progress  of  the  Gospel  amongst  the  Indians  in 
New-England.  Given  in  by  the  Reverend  Mr.  John  Elliot.  Lon 
don,  1671. 

The  Logick  Primer.  Composed  by  J.  E.  [John  Eliot]  for  the  Use  of 
the  Praying  Indians,  [n.  p.]  1672. 

Historical  Collections  of  the  Indians  in  New  England.  By  Daniel 
Gookin.  [First  printed,  from  the  original  manuscripts,  in  1792,  in 
Coll.  Mass.  Hist.  Soc.,  Series  i,  Vol.  I.  Gookin's  Epistle  Dedica 
tory  is  dated  1674.] 

Diary  of  Samuel  Sewall,  1674-1729.  In  Coll.  Mass.  Hist.  Soc.,  Series  5, 
Vols.  V.-VII. 

A  Looking  Glass  for  the  Times.  By  Peter  Folger.  Printed  in  the 
Year  1763.  [Reprinted:  R.  I.  Historical  Tracts,  No.  16.  Dated 
April  26,  1676,  but  probably  not  printed  before  1763.] 

An  Elegie  upon  the  Death  of  the  Reverend  Mr.  Thomas  Shepard.  [By 
Urian  Oakes.]  Cambridge,  1677.  [Reprinted :  The  Club  of  Odd 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  — COLONIAL   PERIOD.        333 

Volumes,  Boston,  1896.      Supposed  to  be  the  earliest  poem   both 
written  and  printed  in  America.] 

A  Narrative  of  the  Troubles  with  the  Indians  in  New- England.  By  W. 
Hubbard.  Boston,  1677.  [Reprinted  :  London,  1677  ;  Boston,  1775  ; 
Worcester,  1801 ;  Norwich,  1802;  Stockbridge,  1803;  Danbury,  1803; 
Brattleborough,  1814;  Roxbury,  1865.  Usually  referred  to  by  the 
title  of  the  later  editions,  A  Narrative  of  the  Indian  Wars.] 

The  Sovereignty  &  Goodness  of  God,  a  Narrative  of  the  Captivity  and 
Restauration  of  Mrs.  Mary  Rowlandson.  The  Second  Addition. 
Written  by  Her  Own  Hand.  Cambridge,  1682.  No  copy  of  the 
first  edition  (1682?)  is  known  to  be  extant.  [Reprinted:  London, 
1682 ;  and  many  times  since.] 

KoMT)Toypa(/)ia.  Or  A  Discourse  Concerning  Comets;  Wherein  the  Na 
ture  of  Blazing  Stars  is  Enquired  into.  As  also  two  Sermons,  Occa 
sioned  by  the  late  Blazing  Stars.  By  Increase  Mather.  Boston, 
1683. 

An  Essay  for  the  Recording  of  Illustrious  Providences.  By  Increase 
Mather.  Boston,  1684. 

A  Further  Account  of  the  Tryals  of  the  New-England  Witches.  By 
Increase  Mather,  President  of  Harvard  Colledge.  London,  1693. 

A  Poem  dedicated  to  the  Memory  of  the  Reverend  and  Excellent  Mr. 
Urian  Oakes.  Boston  in  New-England,  1682.  [Reprinted:  The 
Club  of  Odd  Volumes,  Boston,  1896.  The  poem  is  signed  "  N.  R.," 
but  is  supposed  to  be  by  Cotton  Mather,  who  would  take  peculiar 
pleasure  in  the  ingenious  pleasantry  of  signing  the  last  letters  of  his 
name  instead  of  the  first.  Nathaniel  Mather,  in  a  letter  to  Increase 
Mather,  speaks  of  receiving  a  letter  from  him,  dated  1682,  and 
with  it  a  sermon  by  Mr.  Oakes  and  "two  of  your  son's  Poems  on 
him  " ;  the  Brown  University  Library's  copy  (said  to  be  unique) 
has  N.  Mather's  autograph  at  the  bottom  of  the  last  page.] 

An  Elegy  on  The  Much-to-be-deplored  Death  of  That  Never-to-be- 
forgotten  Person,  The  Reverend  Mr.  Nathaniel  Collins.  [By  Cotton 
Mather.]  Boston,  1685.  [Reprinted :  The  Club  of  Odd  Volumes, 
Boston,  1896.] 

Late  Memorable  Providences  Relating  to  Witchcrafts  and  Possessions, 

clearly  Manifesting,  not  only  that  there  are  Witches,  but  that  Good 

Men  (as  well  as  others)  may  possibly  have  their  Lives  shortned  by 

such  evil  Instruments  of  Satan.     By  Cotton  Mather.     London,  1691. 

The  Wonders  of  the  Invisible  World.     Observations  upon  the  Nature, 

the  Number,  and  the  Operations  of  the  Devils.     By  Cotton  Mather. 

Boston,  1693. 

More  Wonders  of  the  Invisible  World.      Collected  by  Robert  Calef. 

London,  1700.     [An  attack  upon  the  belief  in  witchcraft.] 
Brontologia   Sacra  :   the  Voice  of  the  Glorious  God  in  the  Thunder. 
Especially  intended  for  an  Entertainment  in  the  Hours  of  Thunder. 
[By  Cotton  Mather.]     London,  1695. 

Pillars  of  Salt.  A  History  of  some  Criminals  executed  in  this  Land. 
With  some  of  their  Dying  Speeches.  [By  Cotton  Mather.]  Boston, 
1699. 

Magnalia  Christi  Americana:  or,  the  Ecclesiastical  History  of  New- 
England,  from  its  First  Planting  in  the  Year  1620.  unto  the  Year  of 


334  APPENDIX. 

our  Lord,  1698.  In  Seven  Books.  By  the  Reverend  and  Learned 
Cotton  Mather,  M.A.  London,  1702. 

A  Treacle  fetch'd  out  of  a  Viper.  A  Brief  Essay  upon  Falls  into  Sins. 
[By  Cotton  Mather.]  Boston,  1707. 

Bonifacius.  An  Essay  upon  the  Good.  [By  Cotton  Mather.]  Boston, 
1710.  [Same  as  Essays  to  Do  Good.] 

A  Christian  Funeral.  What  should  be  the  Behaviour  of  a  Christian  at 
a  Funeral  ?  [By  Cotton  Mather.]  Boston,  1713. 

The  Religion  of  an  Oath.  Plain  Directions  How  the  Duty  of  Swearing, 
May  be  Safely  Managed.  [By  Cotton  Mather.]  Boston,  1719. 

The  Christian  Philosopher:  A  Collection  of  the  Best  Discoveries  in 
Nature,  with  Religious  Improvements.  By  Cotton  Mather,  D.D.  and 
Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society.  London,  1721. 

The  Nightingale.  An  Essay  on  Songs  among  Thorns.  Or  the  Supports 
&  Comforts  of  the  Afflicted  Believer.  [By  Cotton  Mather.]  Bos 
ton,  1724. 

Boanerges.  A  Short  Essay  to  preserve  and  strengthen  the  Good  Im 
pressions  Produced  by  Earthquakes.  [By  Cotton  Mather.]  Boston, 
1727. 

The  Life  of  the  Very  Reverend  and  Learned  Cotton  Mather,  D.D.  and 
F.R.S.  By  Samuel  Mather,  M.A.  Boston,  1729. 

The  Journals  of  Madam  Knight,  and  Rev.  Mr.  Buckingham.  From  the 
Original  Manuscripts,  Written  in  1704  and  1710.  New- York,  1825. 

The  Redeemed  Captive,  Returning  to  Zion.  [By  John  Williams.] 
Boston,  1707. 

A  Poem  on  Elijahs  Translation,  occasion'd  by  the  Death  of  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Samuel  Willard.  By  Mr.  Colman,  V.D.M.  Boston,  1707. 

The  Origin  of  the  Whalebone-petticoat.    A  Satyr.     Boston,  1714. 

Hoop  Petticoats,  Arraigned  and  Condemned  by  the  Light  of  Nature 
and  Law  of  God.  Boston.  [1726.] 

The  Churches  Quarrel  Espoused.     By  John  Wise.     Boston,  1710. ' 

A  Vindication  of  the  Government  of  New-England  Churches.  By 
John  Wise.  Boston,  1717. 

Entertaining  Passages  Relating  to  Philip's  War.  By  T.  C.  [Thomas 
Church].  Boston,  1716.  [Reprinted:  Boston,  1716;  Newport,  1772; 
many  times  in  this  century.] 

Poetical  Meditations,  being  the  Improvement  of  some  Vacant  Hours. 
By  Roger  Wolcott.  New  London,  1725.  [Reprinted:  The  princi 
pal  poem,  in  Coll.  Mass.  Hist.  Soc.,  Series  i,  Vol.  IV.;  The  Club  of 
Odd  Volumes,  Boston,  1898.] 

The  History,  of  the  Wars  of  New-England,  with  the  Eastern  Indians. 
By  Samuel  Penhallow.  Boston,  1726. 

A  Poem  on  the  Death  of  His  late  Majesty  King  George,  and  the  Acces 
sion  of  King  George  II.  By  Mr.  Byles.  [Boston,  1727.] 

A  Poem  Presented  to  His  Excellency  William  Burnet,  Esq.;  on  his 
Arrival  at  Boston,  July  19,  1728.  By  Mr.  Byles.  [n.  p.  n.  d.] 

Father  Abbey's  Will ;  to  which  is  added  A  Letter  of  Courtship  to  his 
Virtuous  and  Amiable  Widow.  [By  John  Seccomb.]  Cambridge, 
1731.  [Reprinted :  The  Will  in  The"  Gentleman's  Magazine,  May, 
1732-] 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  — COLONIAL   PERIOD.        335 

Chronological  History  of  New  England.  By  Thomas  Prince,  M.A. 
Boston,  1736. 

An  Historical  Discourse  on  the  Civil  and  Religious  Affairs  of  the  Colony 
of  Rhode  Island  and  Providence  Plantations.  By  John  Callender 
Boston,  1739.  [Reprinted:  Coll.  R.I.  Hist.  Soc.,  Vol.  IV.] 

Memoirs  of  the  Life  and  Death  of  Mrs.  Jane  Turell.  London,  1741. 
[Includes  some  of  her  poems  and  prose  pieces.] 

A  Collection  of  Poems.     By  several  Hands.     Boston,  1744. 

Poems.     By  [Rev.]  John  Adams,  M.A.     Boston,  1745. 

A  Brief  and  Plain  Essay  on  God's  Wonder-working  Providence  for 
New  England.  By  Samuel  Niles.  New  London,  1747. 

Entertainment  for  a  Winter's  Evening.  By  Me,  the  Hon.  B.  B  Esq 
[Joseph  Green].  Boston.  [1750.] 

Sinners  in  the  Hands  of  an  Angry  God.  A  Sermon.  By  Jonathan 
Edwards.  Boston,  1741. 

A  Careful  and  Strict  Enquiry  into  the  Modern  prevailing  Notions  of  that 
freedom  of  Will,  which  is  supposed  to  be  essential  to  Moral  Agency, 
Vertue  and  Vice.  By  Jonathan  Edwards.  Boston,  1754. 

A  Summary,  Historical  and  Political,  of  the  First  Planting,  Progressive 
Improvements,  and  Present  State  of  the  British  Settlements  in  North- 
America.  By  William  Douglass,  M.D.  Boston  and  London,  1755. 

The  Choice:  a  Poem.  [By  Benjamin  Church.]  Boston,  I7c7  [Re 
printed:  Coll.  Mass.  Hist.  Soc.,  Series  i,  Vol.  I.] 

The  Conquest  of  Louisbourg.  A  Poem.  By  fohn  Mavlem  Philo- 
Bellum.  [Boston,  1758.] 

Gallic  Perfidy:  A  Poem.  By  John  Maylem,  Philo-Bellum.  Boston 
J758. 

Pietas  et  Gratulatio  Collegii  Cantabrigiensis  apud  Novanglos.  Bostoni 
-Massachusettensium.  Typis  J.  Green  &  ].  Russell.  1761. 

3.   THE  OTHER  COLONIES. 

A  Character  of  the  Province  of  Mary-Land.  Also  a  small  Treatise  on 
the  wilde  and  naked  Indians.  By  George  Alsop.  London,  1666. 

The  Sot-weed  Factor:  Or,  a  Voyage  to  Maryland.  A  Satyr.  In  Bur 
lesque  Verse.  By  Eben  Cook,  Gent.  London,  1708.  [Reprinted  • 
Shea's  Early  Southern  Tracts,  No.  II.] 

Sotweed  Redivivus ;  Or  the  Planters  Looking-Glass.  In  Burlesque 
Verse.  By  E.  C.  Gent.  Annapolis,  1730. 

A  Brief  Description  of  New  York.  By  Daniel  Denton.  London,  1670 
[Reprinted  :  Gowan's  Bibliotheca  Americana,  1845.] 

History  of  the  Five  Indian  Nations.  By  Cadwallader  Golden  New 
York,  1727. 

A  General  Idea  of  the  College  of  Mirania.  By  William  Smith.  New- 
York,  1753. 

The  History  of  the  Province  of  New- York.  By  William  Smith.  Lon 
don,  1757. 

A  New  Description  of  that  Fertile  and  Pleasant  Province  of  Carolina. 
By  John  Archdale :  Late  Governor  of  the  Same.  London  1707 
[Reprinted:  Hist.  Coll.  So.  Car.,  Vol.  II.] 


336  APPENDIX. 

The  History  of  Carolina.    By  John  Lawson.    London,  1709. 

Eliza  Pinckney.  (Women  of  Colonial  and  Revolutionary  Times.) 
New  York,  1896.  [Contains  her  letters.] 

A  New  Voyage  to  Georgia.  By  a  Young  Gentleman.  London,  1735. 
[Reprinted  :  Ga.  Hist.  Coll.,  Vol.  II.] 

A  True  and  Historical  Narration  of  the  Colony  of  Georgia.  By  Pat. 
Tailfer,  M.D.,  Hugh  Anderson,  M.A.,  Da.  Douglas,  and  Others. 
Charleston,  S.  C.,  1741.  [Reprinted  :  Ga.  Hist.  Coll.,  Vol.  II.] 

The  Life  of  William  Penn :  with  selections  from  his  Correspondence 
and  Autobiography.  By  Samuel  M.  Janney.  Second  edition,  re 
vised.  Philadelphia,  1852. 

An  Historical  and  Geographical  Account  of  the  Province  and  Country 
of  Pensilvania ;  and  of  West-New-Jersey  in  America.  By  Gabriel 
Thomas.  London,  1698.  [Lithographic  facsimile,  1848,  done  for 
H.  A.  Brady  of  the  N.  Y.  Hist.  Soc.] 

God's  Protecting  Providence  :  Evidenced  in  the  Remarkable  Deliverance 
of  divers  persons  from  the  Devouring  Waves  of  the  Sea,  and,  also, 
from  the  more  Cruelly  Devouring  Jawes  of  the  inhumane  Cannibals 
of  Florida.  By  Jonathan  Dickenson.  Philadelphia,  1699. 

Batchelor's-Hall.    A  Poem.     By  George  Webb.     [Philadelphia.]     1731. 

Gate's  Moral  Distichs  Englished  in  Couplets.  [By  James  Logan.]  Phil 
adelphia,  1735. 

Philosophic  Solitude;  or,  the  Choice  of  a  Rural  Life.  A  Poem.  By  a 
Gentleman  educated  at  Yale  College  [William  Livingston].  New 
York,  1747. 

Poor  Richard,  1733.  An  Almanack  for  the  Year  of  Christ,  1733.  By 
Richard  Saunders,  Philom.  Philadelphia:  Printed  and  sold  by  B. 
Franklin.  [Continued  till  1796,  but  "  after  1758  Franklin  wrote  no 
more  for  '  Poor  Richard.'  "  —  McMaster's  Franklin.  The  1758  num 
ber  contained  the  famous  Father  Abraham's  Speech.] 

Experiments  and  Observations  on  Electricity.  By  Mr.  Benjamin  Frank 
lin.  London,  1751. 

The  Manners  of  the  Times;  a  Satire.  By  Philadelphiensis.  Phila 
delphia,  1762. 

The  Court  of  Fancy;  a  Poem.  By  Thomas  Godfrey.  Philadelphia, 
1762. 

Juvenile  Poems  on  Various  Subjects.  With  the  Prince  of  Parthia,  a 
Tragedy.  By  the  late  Mr.  Thomas  Godfrey,  Junr.,  of  Philadelphia. 
To  which  is  prefixed  Some  Account  of  the  Author  and  his  Writings. 
Philadelphia,  1765. 

Poems  on  Several  Occasions.  By  Nathaniel  Evans,  A.  M.  Philadelphia, 
1772. 

II.     REVOLUTIONARY   PERIOD. 

The  Rights  of  the  British  Colonies  Asserted  and  Proved.  By  James 
Otis.  Boston,  1764.  [Reprinted  :  London,  1765,  1766.] 

Ponteach :  or  the  Savages  of  America.  A  Tragedy.  [By  Robert 
Rogers?]  London,  1766. 

Liberty,  Property  and  no  Excise.    A  Poem  compos'd  on  Occasion  of 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  — REVOLUTIONARY   PERIOD.     337 

the  Sight  seen  on  the  Great  Trees,  (so   called)    in   Boston,  New- 
England,  on  the  i4th  of  August,  1765.    [Boston.]    1765.    (Price  6  Cop.) 
A  New  Collection  of  Verses  applied  to  the   First  of  November,  A.D. 

1765.  Together  with  a  poetical  Dream,  concerning  Stamped  Papers. 
New-Haven.     [1765.] 

The  Disappointment ;  or  the  Force  of  Credulity.  By  Andrew  Barton. 
New  York,  1767. 

Letters  from  a  Farmer  in  Pennsylvania,  to  the  Inhabitants  of  the  British 
Colonies.  [By  John  Dickinson.]  Boston.  [1768.]  [Reprinted  :  Phila 
delphia,  1768,  1769,  1774 ;  Boston,  1768;  New  York,  1768;  Williams- 
burg,  1769;  London,  1768,  1774;  Dublin,  1768;  Paris,  1769  (French 
translation).] 

An  Address  to  a  Provincial  Bashaw.  By  a  Son  of  Liberty  [Benjamin 
Church] .  Printed  in  (the  Tyrannic  Administration  of  St.  Francisco 
[Gov.  Francis  Bernard] ) ,  1769.  [Boston.] 

The  Examination  of  Doctor  Benjamin  Franklin,  before'an  August  As 
sembly,  relating  to  the  Repeal  of  the  Stamp-Act.  [Philadelphia?] 

1766.  [Reprinted  :  London,  1767.] 

Philosophical  and  Miscellaneous  Papers.  Lately  written  by  B.  Frank 
lin,  LL.D.  London,  1787. 

Poems  on  Various  Subjects.  By  Phillis  Wheatley,  Negro  Servant  to 
Mr.  John  Wheatley,  of  Boston,  in  New  England.  London,  1773. 

The  Adulateur.  A  Tragedy,  as  it  is  now  acted  in  Upper  Servia.  [By 
Mercy  Warren.]  Boston,  1773. 

The  Ladies'  Philosophy  of  Love.  A  Poem,  in  four  Cantos.  Written 
in  1774.  By  Charles  Stearns,  A.B.  Leominster,  Mass.,  1797. 

The  Story  of  ^Eneas  and  Dido  burlesqued.     Charlestown,  [S.  C.]  ,  1774. 

A  Pretty  Story.  By  Peter  Grievous,  Esq.,  A.B.C.D.E.  [Francis  Hopkin- 
sonj.  Philadelphia,  1774.  [Reprinted:  Philadelphia,  1774;  Wil- 
liamsburg,  1774;  New  York,  1857,  1864.] 

The  Miscellaneous  Essays  and  Occasional  Writings  of  Francis  Hop- 
kinson.  Philadelphia,  1792.  [3  vols.] 

Memoirs  of  the  Life  of  Josiah  Quincy,  Jun.,  by  his  Son,  Josiah  Quincy. 
Boston,  Cummings,  Milliard,  &  Company,  1825.  [Contains  his  jour 
nals,  letters,  and  Observations  on  the  Boston  Port-Bill.] 

Free  Thoughts  on  the  Proceedings  of  the  Continental  Congress.  By  a 
Farmer.  Hear  me,  for  I  WILL  speak!  [By  Samuel  Seabury?] 
New  York,  1774.  [Reprinted:  London,  1775.  The  first  of  the 
"  Westchester  Farmer's  Letters."] 

A  Full  Vindication  of  the  Measures  of  the  Congress,  from  the  Calum 
nies  of  their  Enemies  ;  In  Answer  to  a  Letter,  under  the  Signature  of 
A.  W.  Farmer,  Whereby  His  Sophistry  is  exposed,  his  Cavils  con 
futed,  his  Artifices  detected,  and  his  Wit  ridiculed.  [By  Alexander 
Hamilton.]  New-York,  1774. 

The  Farmer  Refuted.     [By  Alexander  Hamilton.]     New  York,  1775. 

The  Group,  a  Farce.  [By  Mercy  Warren.]  Jamaica,  Printed ;  Phila 
delphia,  Re-printed ;  1775. 

The  Patriots  of  North  America.     New- York,  177=;.     [An  anonymous 
Tory  poem  of  much  vigor.] 
z 


338  APPENDIX. 

Massachusettensis.  [By  Daniel  Leonard.]  [Boston,  1775.]  [Reprinted : 
New  York,  1775;  London,  1776,  four  editions.] 

A  Cure  for  the  Spleen.  Or  Amusement  for  a  Winter's  Evening;  being 
the  Substance  of  a  Conversation  on  the  Times,  over  a  Friendly 
Tankard  and  Pipe.  Taken  in  short  Hand,  by  Sir  Roger  de  Coverly. 
America,  1775.  [Reprinted  :  New  York,  n.  d.] 

The  Works  of  John  Woolman.  London,  1775.  [Contains  his  journal. 
The  Journal  was  reprinted  in  1873,  with  an  introduction  by  Whittier.] 

An  Elegy  on  the  Times.  [By  John  TrumbulL]  Boston,  1774.  [Re 
printed:  New  Haven,  1775.] 

The  Progress  of  Dulness.  [By  John  Trumbull.]  New  Haven.  [Part 
I.,  1772;  Parts  II.  and  III.,  1773.] 

McFingal.  A  Modern  Epic  Poem.  Or,  the  Town-Meeting.  [By  John 
Trumbull.]  Philadelphia,  1775.  [Reprinted  :  London,  1776.] 

MT'ingal:  A  Modern  Epic  Poem,  in  Four  Cantos.  [By  John  Trum 
bull.]  Hartford,  1782.  [Reprinted:  Boston,  1785,  1799,  1826; 
Philadelphia,  1791,  1839;  London,  1792;  New  York,  1795,  1864; 
Wrentham,  1801;  Baltimore,  1812;  Albany,  1813;  Hudson,  1816; 
Hartford,  1856.  The  text  of  1782  differs  considerably  from  that  of 
1775.  The  division  into  cantos  is  a  new  feature;  many  minor 
changes  in  diction  have  been  made,  and  couplets  inserted  here  and 
there  ;  the  last  22  lines  of  Canto  I.,  and  the  first  104  lines  of  Canto  II., 
are  new,  as  are  of  course  the  whole  of  Cantos  III.  and  IV.] 

The  Poetical  Works  of  John  Trumbull,  LL.D.  In  Two  Volumes. 
Hartford,  1820.  [Contains  memoir.] 

Common  Sense  :  Addressed  to  the  Inhabitants  of  America.  [By  Thomas 
Paine.]  Philadelphia,  1776.  [Reprinted:  1776,  Philadelphia,  Boston, 
New  York,  Newport,  Newburyport,  Norwich,  Salem,  Lancaster,  Provi 
dence,  London,  Edinburgh,  Newcastle-upon-Tyne ;  and  again  and 
again  since.] 

The  Blockheads  :  or,  the  Affrighted  Officers.     A  Farce.     Boston,  1776. 

The  Battle  of  Brooklyn.  A  Farce  in  two  acts.  New  York,  1776. 
[Reprinted :  Brooklyn,  1873,  Long  Island  Publications,  No.  i.] 

The  Fall  of  British  Tyranny :  or  American  Liberty  Triumphant.  A 
Tragi-Comedy  of  Five  Acts.  [By  John  Leacock  ?]  Philadelphia, 
1776. 

The  Battle  of  Bunker's-Hill.  A  Dramatic  Piece,  of  Five  Acts,  in  Heroic 
Measure.  By  a  Gentleman  of  Maryland  [H.  H.  Brackenridge] . 
Philadelphia,  1776. 

The  Death  of  General  Montgomery.  By  the  Author  of  the  Battle  of 
Bunker's-Hill.  Philadelphia,  1777. 

The  Motley  Assembly,  a  Farce.     Boston,  1779. 

A  Narrative  of  Colonel  Ethan  Allen's  Captivity.  Written  by  Himself. 
Price  Ten  Paper  Dollars.  Philadelphia,  1779. 

The  American  Times.     [By  Jonathan  Odell.]     London,  1780. 

The  Old  Jersey  Captive :  or,  A  Narrative  of  the  Captivity  of  Thomas 
Andros  on  board  the  Old  Jersey  Prison  Ship  at  New  York,  1781. 
In  a  Series  of  Letters  to  a  Friend.  Boston,  1833. 

A  Narrative  of  the  Capture  of  Henry  Laurens,  of  His  Imprisonment  in 
the  Tower  of  London,  etc.,  1780,  1781,  1782.  Charleston,  1857. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  —  REVOLUTIONARY   PERIOD.     339 

The  Blockheads ;  an  Opera,  in  Two  Acts,  as  it  was  performed  at  New 
York.  Printed  at  New  York.  London,  Reprinted,  1782. 

Letters  from  an  American  Farmer.  By  J.  Hector  St.  John  [Crevecoeur] . 
London,  1782.  [Reprinted:  Dublin,' 1782;  London,  1783;  Philadel 
phia,  1793,  1798.] 

Songs  and  Ballads  of  the  American  Revolution.  With  notes  and  illus 
trations  by  Frank  Moore.  New  York,  1856. 

The  Loyalist  Poetry  of  the  Revolution.  Philadelphia,  1857.  [Edited  by 
W.  Sargent.] 

America ;  A  Poem  in  the  Style  of  Pope's  Windsor  Forest.  [By  Timothy 
Dwight  ?]  [n.  p.]  1772. 

The  Conquest  of  Canaan.  By  Timothy  Dwight.  Hartford,  1785.  [Re 
printed:  London,  1788.] 

Greenfield  Hill.    By  Timothy  Dwight,  D.D.     New  York,  1794. 

The  Prospect  of  Peace.  A  Poetical  Composition,  delivered  in  Yale- 
College,  at  the  Public  Examination,  of  the  Candidates  for  the  Degree 
of  Bachelor  of  Arts;  July  23,  1778.  By  Joel  Barlow,  A.B.  New- 
Haven,  1788. 

A  Poem  spoken  at  the  Public  Commencement  at  Yale  College,  in  New- 
Haven  ;  September  12,  1781.  [By  Joel  Barlow.]  Hartford,  [n.  d.] 

The  Vision  of  Columbus ;  a  Poem  in  Nine  Books.  •  By  Joel  Barlow, 
Esquire.  Hartford,  1787.  [Reprinted:  Hartford,  1787;  London, 
1787;  Paris,  1793;  London,  1794;  Baltimore,  1814,  1816;  Hagers- 
town,  Md.,  1820;  Centreville,  la.,  1824.] 

A  Letter  to  the  National  Convention  of  France,  on  the  Defects  in  the 
Constitution  of  1791.  By  Joel  Barlow,  [n.  p.  n.  d.] 

The  Conspiracy  of  Kings  ;  a  Poem.     By  Joel  Barlow.     London,  1792. 

Advice  to  the  Privileged  Orders  in  the  several  States  of  Europe.  By 
Joel  Barlow.  Paris,  1792,  1793. 

The  Hasty-Pudding :  A  Poem  in  Three  Cantos.  Written  at  Chambery, 
in  Savoy,  January,  1793.  [By  Joel  Barlow.]  New  York,  1796.  [Re 
printed:  New  Haven,  1796 ;  Stockbridge,  1797  ;  Salem,  1799;  Hallo- 
well,  1815;  Brooklyn,  1833;  New  York,  1847,  1856  (with  a  "Memoir 
on  Maize  ")  ;  in  Harper's  Magazine,  July,  1856,  with  illustrations.] 

The  Columbiad.  A  Poem.  By  Joel  Barlow.  Philadelphia,  1807.  [In  the 
Brown  University  Library's  copy  are  corrections,  apparently  in  the 
author's  hand,  which  are  embodied  in  the  later  editions.  Reprinted  : 
Philadelphia,  1809;  London,  1809;  Paris,  1813;  Washington  City, 
1825.  The  Vision  of  Columbus  has  4,776  lines;  The  Columbiad, 
7,332,  divided  into  ten  books.  Many  passages  are  rewritten,  not 
always  for  the  better  (see  the  description  of  Hesperus,  Book  I.),  and 
Book  VI.  is  almost  wholly  new.] 

Notice  sur  la  Vie  et  les  Ecrits  de  M.  Joel  Barlow.  [With  a  translation 
into  French  verse  of  the  first  140  lines  of  The  Columbiad.]  [n.  p.] 
1813. 

The  Anarchiad.  Now  first  published  in  book  form.  New  Haven,  1861. 
[By  Trumbull,  Barlow,  Humphreys,  and  Lemuel  Hopkins.  First 
published  in  The  New  Haven  Gazette,  1786-1787.] 

A  Poem,  Addressed  to  the  Armies  of  the  United  States  of  America.  By 
a  Gentleman  of  the  Army  [David  Humphreys].  New  Haven,  1780. 


340  APPENDIX. 

[Reprinted:    New  Haven,  1784;    Paris,  1786,  with  French  transla 
tion  in  prose ;  London,  1785.] 
A  Poem  on  the  Happiness  of  America.     By  D.  Humphreys      fn  pi 

1786.     [Reprinted  :  London,  1786.] 
An  Essay  on  the  Life  of  Israel  Putnam.     [D.  Humphreys.]     Hartford, 

1788. 
Poems  by  Col.  David  Humphreys.     Second  Edition.     Philadelphia, 

1789. 
The  Miscellaneous  Works  of  Colonel  [David]  Humphreys.    New-York, 

1790.     [Reprinted  with  additions  :  New  York,  1804.] 
A  Poem,  on  the  Rising  Glory  of  America;  being  an  Exercise  delivered 

at  the  Public  Commencement  at  Nassau-Hall,  September  25,  1771. 

[By  Philip  Freneau.]     Philadelphia,  1772. 

Voyage  to  Boston  :  A  Poem.     By  Philip  Freneau.     Philadelphia,  1775. 
The  British  Prison-Ship  :  A  Poem,  in  Four  Cantos.    To  which  is  added, 

a  Poem  on  the  Death  of  Capt.  N.  Biddle,  who  was  blown  up,  in  an 

Engagement    with    the    Yarmouth,   near    Barbadoes.      [By    Philip 

Freneau.]     Philadelphia,  1781. 
The  Poems  of  Philip  Freneau.     Written  chiefly  during  the  late  War. 

Philadelphia,  1786.      [Reprinted:    London, '1861,  with  biographical 

introduction.] 

A  Journey  from  Philadelphia  to  New- York.     By  Robert  Slender,  Stock 
ing  Weaver    [Philip   Freneau].     Philadelphia,   1787.      [Reprinted: 

Philadelphia,  1809,  as  A  Laughable  Poem,  etc.] 
The   Miscellaneous   Works   of  Mr.   Philip    Freneau.     Containing  his 

Essays  and  Additional  Poems.     Philadelphia,  1788. 
Poems  written  between  the  Years  1768  and  1794.    By  Philip  Freneau. 

Monmouth,  N.  J.,  1795. 
The  Village  Merchant:    A  Poem.      To  which  is  added  the  Country 

Printer.     [By  Philip  Freneau.]     Philadelphia,  1794. 
Poems.    By   Philip  Freneau.      In  Two  Volumes.     Philadelphia,   1809. 

[A  revised  edition  of  poems  written  between  1768  and  1793.] 
A  Collection  of  Poems,  on  American  Affairs,  and  a  Variety  of  Other 

Subjects,  chiefly  Moral  and  Political ;  written  between  the  year  1797 

and  the  present  time.     By  Philip  Freneau.     In  Two  Volumes.     New 

York,  1815. 
Poems  relating  to  the  American  Revolution.     By  Philip  Freneau.    With 

Memoir  and  Notes  by  Evert  A.  Duyckinck.     New  York,  1865. 
The  Patriot  Chief.   A  Tragedy.    [By  Peter  Markoe  ?]    Philadelphia,  1784. 
Effusions  of  Female  Fancy.     Consisting  of  Elegys,  and  Other  Original 

Essays  in  Poetry.     New  York,  1784. 
The  Lyric  Works  of  Horace,  Translated  into  English  Verse :  to  which 

are  added,  A  Number  of  Original  Poems.     By  a  Native  of  America 

[}.  Parke] .     Philadelphia,  1786. 

The  Poems  of  Arouet.     Q.  B.  Ladd.]     Charleston,  S.  C.,  1786. 
The  Literary  Remains  of  Joseph  Brown  Ladd,  M.D.     To  which  is  pre 
fixed,  a  Sketch  of  the  Author's  Life.     New  York,  1832. 
The  Buds  of  Beauty ;  or,  Parnassian  Sprigs.     By  Augustus  Chatterton. 

Baltimore,  1787. 
Miscellaneous  Poems.    By  Peter  Markoe.    Philadelphia,  1787. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  — REVOLUTIONARY    PERIOD.     341 

The  Times.    A  Poem.     By  Peter  Markoe.     Philadelphia,  1788. 

The  Federalist :  A  Collection  of  Essays,  written  in  Favour  of  the  New 
Constitution.  New  York,  1788. 

The  Beauties  of  Religion.  A  Poem.  Addressed  to  Youth.  In  Five 
Books.  By  Elijah  Fitch,  A.M.  Providence,  1789. 

Poems  Dramatic  and  Miscellaneous.  By  Mrs.  M.  Warren.  Boston, 
1790. 

The  History  of  the  Province  of  Massachuset's  Bay  [from  1628  to  1774]. 
By  Mr.  Hutchinson.  [Vol.  I.,  Boston,  1764;  Vol.  II.,  Boston,  1767; 
Vol.  III.,  London,  1828.] 

The  History  of  the  Rise,  Progress,  and  Establishment,  of  the  Inde 
pendence  of  the  United  States  of  America.  By  William  Gordon, 
D.D.  London,  1788.  [4  vols.] 

The  History  of  the  American  Revolution.  By  David  Ramsay,  M.D.  of 
South  Carolina.  In  Two  Volumes.  Philadelphia,  1789.  [Reprinted: 
London,  1791,  1793.] 

History  of  the  Rise,  Progress  and  Termination  of  the  American  Revo 
lution.  By  Mrs.  Mercy  Warren.  Boston,  1805.  [3  vols.] 


D. 


REFERENCE  LIST  OF  BOOKS  AND  ARTICLES. 

[Some  of  the  dates  are  dates  of  copyright,  not  of  imprint,  as  access  to  first 
editions  was  not  possible  in  all  cases.  "  H.  &  M."  stands  for  "Houghton,  Mifflin 
&  Co."  The  American  Men  of  Letters  Series,  the  American  Statesmen  Series, 
and  the  American  Religious  Leaders  Series  are  published  by  that  house.  The 
Makers  of  America  Series  is  published  by  Dodd,  Mead  &  Co.  For  school  use 
the  Old  South  Leaflets  (address  Directors  of  the  Old  South  Work,  Old  South 
Meeting-house,  Boston)  contain  several  interesting  selections  from  the  earlier 
writings;  the  Riverside  Literature  Series  (Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co.)  supplies 
much  material,  well  edited  and  inexpensive;  the  English  Classics  Series  (May- 
nard,  Merrill  &  Co.)  furnishes  cheap  editions  of  several  works;  in  Little  Master 
pieces  (Doubleday  &  McClure),  Poe,  Hawthorne,  Irving,  Lincoln,  Franklin, 
and  Webster  are  represented;  Macmillan  &  Co.  announce,  as  in  press  or  in  prep 
aration,  editions  of  writings  by  some  twenty  authors,  in  their  Pocket  Series  of 
American  Classics;  some  of  Phillips's  speeches  and  lectures  are  published  sep 
arately  by  Lee  &  Siicpard;  nine  of  Webster's  orations,  with  notes,  are  published 
by  Heath  &  Co  ;  Hodgkins's  leaflets  (Heath  &  Co.)  for  the  laboratory  study  of 
several  American  authors  will  be  found  helpful.  For  more  magazine  articles, 
consult  Poole's  Index;  for  essays,  the  "  A.  L.  A."  Index.] 

I.    GENERAL  AND   MISCELLANEOUS. 

Historical  Works.  —  Narrative  and  Critical  History  of  America, 
edited  by  Justin  Winsor  (H.  &  M.,  1889;  8  vols.).  The  Discovery  of 
America,  by  John  Fiske  (H.  &  M.,  1892;  2  vols.).  English  Colonies 
in  America,  by  J.  A.  Doyle  (Holt,  1882-1889;  3  vols.).  Old  Virginia 
and  her  Neighbours,  by  John  Fiske  (H.  &  M.,  1897 ;  2  vols.).  Virginia, 
by  J.  E.  Cooke,  in  American  Commonwealths  Series  (H.  &  M.,  1883). 
American  History  told  by  Contemporaries  [1492-1783]  ,  edited  by  A.  B. 
Hart  (Macmillan,  1897;  2  vols.).  The  Beginnings  of  New  England,  by 
John  Fiske  (H.  &  M.,  1889).  The  American  Revolution,  by  John  Fiske 
(H.£M.,  1891 ;  2  vols.).  The  Critical  Period  of  American  History  [1783- 
1789]  ,  by  John  Fiske  (H.  &  M.,  1888).  History  of  the  United  States  of 
America  [1783-1861],  by  James  Schouler  (Dodd,  Mead  &  Co.,  1880- 
1891;  5  vols.).  A  History  of  the  People  of  the  United  States  [1783- 
1861],  by  J.  B.  McMaster  (Appleton,  1883-1899;  5  vols.  out;  to  be 
completed  in  6).  History  of  the  United  States  [1850-1862],  by  J.  F. 

342 


REFERENCE  LIST  OF  BOOKS  AND  ARTICLES.     343 

Rhodes  (Harper,  1892-1895  ;  3  vols.).  The  History  of  the  Last  Quarter 
Century  in  the  United  States,  by  E.  B.  Andrews  (Scribner,  1896 ;  2  vols.) . 
Women  of  Colonial  and  Revolutionary  Times  (Scribner,  1897;  the 
series  includes  Margaret  Winthrop,  Martha  Washington,  Dorothy  P. 
Madison,  Mercy  O.  Warren,  Eliza  Pinckney,  Catherine  Schuyler). 
Men,  Women,  and  Manners  in  Colonial  Times,  by  S.  G.  Fisher  (Lip- 
pincott,  1897  ;  2  vols.).  Costumes  of  Colonial  Times,  by  Alice  M.  Earle 
(Scribner,  1894).  Colonial  Dames  and  Good  Wives,  by  Alice  M. 
Earle  (H.  &  M.,  1895).  English  Culture  in  Virginia  in  Johns  Hopkins 
University  Studies  in  Historical  and  Political  Science,  Seventfi  Series 
(Baltimore,  1889).  White  Aprons,  a  Romance  of  Bacon's  Rebellion, 
by  Maud  W.  Goodwin  (Little,  Brown  &  Co.,  1896).  New  England 
Two  Centuries  Ago,  by  J.  R.  Lowell,  in  Literary  Essays,  Vol.  II.  My 
Lady  Pokahontas,  by  J.  E.  Cooke  (H.  &  M.,  1885).  Customs  and 
Fashions  in  Old  New  England,  by  Alice  M.  Earle  (Scribner,  1894). 
The  Sabbath  in  Puritan  New  England,  by  Alice  M.  Earle  (Scribner, 
1891).  Merry-Mount;  a  Romance  of  the  Massachusetts  Colony,  by 
J.  L.  Motley  (Munroe  &  Co.,  1848;  2  vols.).  Mary  Dyer  the  Quaker 
Martyr,  by  Horatio  Rogers  (Providence:  Preston  &  Rounds,  1896). 
Samuel  Sewall  and  the  World  he  lived  in,  by  N.  H.  Chamberlain 
(De  Wolfe,  Fiske  &  Co.,  1897).  Witchcraft,  by  J.  R.  Lowell,  in  Lit 
erary  Essays,  Vol.  II.  Were  the  Salem  W'itches  Guiltless?  and  Some 
Neglected  Characteristics  of  the  New  England  Puritans,  by  Barrett  Wen 
dell,  in  Stelligeri  (Scribner,  1893).  Colonial  Days  in  Old  New  York, 
by  Alice  M.  Earle  (Scribner,  1896).  The  Half  Moon  Series,  Papers 
on  Historic  New  York  (Putnam,  1897-1898).  The  Governor's  Gar 
den,  a  Relation  of  Some  Passages  in  the  Life  of  Thomas  Hutchinson, 
by  G.  R.  R.  Rivers  (Joseph  Knight,  1896).  Richard  Carvel,  by  Winston 
Churchill  (Macmillan,  1899),  and  Hugh  Wynne,  Free  Quaker,  by 
S.  W.  Mitchell  (Century  Co.,  1897),  novels  of  the  American  Revo 
lution.  A  Century  of  Social  Betterment,  by  J.  B.  McMaster,  Atlantic 
Monthly,  January,  1897.  A  Boy  Sixty  Years  Ago,  by  G.  F.  Hoar  (Perry 
Mason  &  Co;  reprinted  from  the  Youth's  Companion,  March  10,  17, 
24,  1898).  Cambridge  Thirty  Years  Ago  [i.e.  1824]  ,  by  J.  R.  Lowell,  in 
Literary  Essays,  Vol.  I.  A  History  of  the  Unitarians  in  the  United 
States,  by  J.  H.  Allen,  in  American  Church  History  Series,  Vol.  X. 
(New  York:  Christian  Literature  Co.,  1894).  Transcendentalism  in 
New  England,  by  O.  B.  Frothingham  (Putnam,  1876).  The  New 
England  Reformers,  by  R.  W.  Emerson,  in  Works,  Vol.  III.  His 
toric  Notes  of  Life  and  Letters  in  New  England,  by  R.  W.  Emerson, 
in  Works,  Vol.  X.  (the  Transcendental  movement).  The  American 
Scholar,  by  R.  W.  Emerson,  in  Works,  Vol.  I.  The  Transcendentalist, 
by  R.  W.  Emerson,  in  Works,  Vol.  I.  Radical  Problems,  by  C.  A.  Bartol 
(Boston,  1872;  Transcendentalism,  pp.  61-97).  Reminiscences  of 
Brook  Farm,  by  G.  P.  Bradford,  Century  Magazine,  November,  1892. 
The  Old  South,  Essays  Social  and  Political,  by  T.  N.  Page  (Scribner, 


344  APPENDIX. 

1892).  Southern  Sidelights,  by  Edward  Ingle  (Crowell,  18961  No.  X., 
in  Library  of  Economics  and  Politics,  edited  by  R.  T.  Ely).  The 
Peculiarities  of  the  South,  by  Professor  N.  S.  Shaler,  North  American 
Review,  October,  1890. 

Histories  of  American  Literature. — A  History  of  American  Litera 
ture,  1607-1765,  by  M.  C.  Tyler  (Putnam,  1878;  2  vols. ;  Agawam  edi 
tion,  i  vol.).  The  Literary  History  of  the  American  Revolution,  1763- 
1783,  by  M.  C.  Tyler  (Putnam,  1897;  2  vols.).  American  Literature, 
1607-1885,  by  C.  F.  Richardson  (Putnam,  1887,  1889;  2  vols. ;  popular 
edition,  i  vol.).  American  Literature:  an  Historical  Sketch,  1620- 
1880,  by  John  Nichol,  professor  in  the  University  of  Glasgow  (A.  &  C. 
Black,  1882).  Early  Poetry  of  the  Provinces,  now  Part  of  the  United 
States,  by  J.  F.  Hunnewell,  in  The  Club  of  Odd  Volumes,  No.  I.  (Boston, 
1894).  De  la  Litterature  et  des  Hommes  de  Lettres  des  Etats-Unis 
d'Amerique,  par  Eugene  A.  Vail  (Paris,  1841).  Geschichte  der  Eng- 
lischen  Litteratur  im  Neunzehnten  Jahrhundert,  von  Karl  Bleibtren 
(Leipzig,  1887;  Die  amerikanische  Poesie,  pp.  394-505;  Bret  Harte, 
pp.  564-572).  Geschichte  der  Nordamerikanischen  Litteratur,  von 
Karl  Knortz  (Berlin,  1891;  2  vols.).  Geschichte  der  Nordamer 
ikanischen  Litteratur,  von  Eduard  Engel  (Leipzig,  1897).  Beitriige  zur 
Amerikanischen  Litteratur-  und  Kultur-Geschichte,  von  E.  P.  Evans 
(Stuttgart,  1898).  Chronological  Outlines  of  American  Literature,  by 
S.  L.  Whitcomb  (Macmillan,  1894).  American  Literature  and  Other 
Papers,  by  E.  P.  Whipple  (Ticknor  &  Co.,  1887).  American  Literature, 
by  C.  D.  Warner,  in  The  United  States  of  America,  Vol.  II.  (Appleton, 
1894).  The  History  of  Printing  in  America,  by  Isaiah  Thomas  (Albany, 
1874,  second  edition ;  Vcls.  V.,  VI.,  of  Transactions  and  Collections  of 
the  American  Antiquarian  Society).  Journalism  in  the  United  States 
from  1690  to  1872,  by  Frederick  Hudson  (Harper,  1873).  Philadelphia 
Magazines  and  their  Contributors,  1741-1850,  by  A.  H.  Smyth  (Lind 
say,  1892).  History  of  the  American  Theatre,  by  G.  O.  Seilhamer  (F. 
P.  Harper,  1896;  3  vols.).  History  of  Oratory,  by  Lorenzo  Sears 
(Griggs  &  Co.,  1896).  On  the  Development  of  American  Literature 
from  1815  to  1833,  with  especial  reference  to  Periodicals,  by  W.  B.  Cairns 
(Bulletin  of  the  University  of  Wisconsin,  Madison,  Wis.,  1898). 

Biographical  Cyclopedias  and  Dictionaries.  —  A  Critical  Dictionary 
of  English  Literature  and  British  and  American  Authors,  by  S.  A.  Alli- 
bone  (Lippincott,  1858-1871 ;  4  vols.)  ;  Supplement; by  J.  F.  Kirk  (1891 ; 
2  vols.).  Appleton's  Cyclopaedia  of  American  Biography,  edited  by 
J.  G.  Wilson  and  John  Fiske  (Appleton,  1886-1889;  6  vols.).  The 
National  Cyclopaedia  of  American  Biography  (White  &  Co.,  1891 ;  2 
vols.).  A  Dictionary  of  American  Authors,  by  O.  F.  Adams  (H.  &  M., 
1897).  National  Portrait  Gallery,  by  E.  A.  Duyckinck  (New  York, 
1867;  2  vols.). 

Reminiscences,  Authors'  Homes,  etc.  —  American  Bookmen,  by  M.  A. 
DeWolfe  Howe  (Dodd,  Mead  &  Co.,  1898).  Bryant  and  his  Friends, 


REFERENCE  LIST  OF  BOOKS  AND  ARTICLES.     345 

by  J.  G.  Wilson  (Ford,  Howard  &  Hulbert,  1886 ;  reminiscences,  etc., 
of  Bryant,  Paulding,  Irving,  Dana,  Cooper,  Halleck,  Drake,  Willis, 
Foe,  Taylor,  and  minor  "Knickerbockers").  Personal  Recollections 
of  Notable  People,  by  C.  K.  Tuckerman  (Dodd,  Mead  &  Co.,  1895  '• 

2  vols. ;  Vol.  L,  Chaps.  I.-IIL,  Boston  and  New  York  Men  of  Letters). 
Recollections  of  a  Literary  Life,  by  Mary  R.  Mitford  (London,  1852; 

3  vols.;    Chap.  VI.,  American   Poets).     Biographical  Notes  and  Per 
sonal  Sketches,  by  J.  T.  Fields  (H.  &  M.,  1881 ;  reminiscences  and  let 
ters  of  American  authors).    Authors  and  Friends,  by  Mrs.  J.  T.  Fields 
(H.  &  M. ;  recollections  of  Longfellow,  Emerson,  Holmes,  Mrs.  Stowe, 
Whittier,  etc.).      Recollections   of  Eminent  Men,  by  E.   P.  Whipple 
(Ticknor  &  Co.,   1887;    Choate,  Agassiz,  Emerson,  Motley,  Sumner, 
Ticknor) .     Essays  from  the  Easy  Chair,  by  G.  W.  Curtis  (Harper,  1892- 
1894;  3  series;  Everett,  Emerson,  Thoreau,  Phillips,  Bryant,  Beecher, 
Hawthorne,  and  Brook  Farm).     Chapters  from  a  Life,  by  Elizabeth  S. 
Phelps   (H.  &   M.,    1896;    reminiscences   of  Mrs.  Stowe,  Longfellow, 
Whittier,  Holmes,  etc.).     Cheerful  Yesterdays,   by  T.  W.  Higginson 
(H.   &   M.,    1899;    reminiscences   of  many  men    of   letters).      Remi 
niscences,  by  Julia  Ward  Howe  (H.  &  M.,  1899).     Homes  of  American 
Authors,  comprising  Anecdotical,  Personal,  and  Descriptive  Sketches, 
by  G.  W.  Curtis  and  others  (Putnam,  1852).     Little  Journeys  to  the 
Homes  of  American  Authors,  by  Curtis,  Hillard,  Bryant,   etc.    (Put 
nam,    1896).      Homes    and   Haunts   of  our    Elder    Poets,   by  R.  H. 
Stoddard,  F.  B.  Sanborn,  and  H.  N.  Powers  (Appleton,  1881).     Authors 
at  Home,  edited  by  J.  L.  and  J.  B.  Gilder  (Cassell,  1888 ;   reprinted 
from  the  Critic). 

Collections  of.  Selections.  —  Cyclopaedia  of  American  Literature  [1608- 
1855],  by  E.  A.  and  G.  L.  Duyckinck  (Scribner,  1855;  2  vols.;  biog 
raphies,  criticisms,  selections).  A  Library  of  American  Literature 
[1608-1889] ,  edited  by  E.  C.  Stedman  and  E.  M.  Hutchinson  (Webster 
&  Co.,  1887-1890;  ii  vols.;  Vol.  XI.  has  brief  biographies).  Southern 
Literature  [1608-1895] ,  with  Copious  Extracts  and  Criticisms,  by  Louise 
Manly  (Richmond:  Johnson  Publishing  Co.,  1895).  Specimens  of 
American  Poetry  [1660-1829]  ,  by  Samuel  Kettell  (Boston,  1829 ;  3  vols. ; 
biographical  notices).  The  Poets  and  Poetry  of  America  [1640-1860], 
by  R.  W.  Griswold  (Philadelphia,  1860;  first  edition,  1842;  biographies, 
criticisms,  selections).  The  Female  Poets  of  America,  by  T.  B.  Read 
(Philadelphia,  1849;  nineteenth-century  authors  only;  short  biographi 
cal  notices,  portraits,  selections).  The  Female  Poets  of  America  [1650- 
1869],  by  R.  W.  Griswold  (New  York,  1869;  first  edition,  1849;  revised 
by  R.  H.  Stoddard;  biographies,  criticisms,  selections).  A  Library  of 
Poetry  and  Song,  with  an  Introduction  by  W.  C.  Bryant  (Ford  &  Co., 
1871).  American  Song,  a  Collection  of  Representative  American  Poems, 
by  A.  B.  Simonds  (Putnam,  1894).  The  Golden  Treasury  of  American 
Songs  and  Lyrics,  edited  by  F.  F.  Knowles  (Page  &  Co.,  1898).  Ameri 
can  Sonnets,  selected  and  edited  by  T.  W.  Higginson  and  E.  H.  Bigelow 


346  APPENDIX. 

(H.  &  M.,  1890).  Poems  of  American  Patriotism,  chosen  by  J.  Brander 
Matthews  (Scribner,  1882).  American  War  Ballads  and  Lyrics  [colonial 
wars  to  Civil  War]  ,  edited  by  G.  C.  Eggleston  (Putnam,  1889 ;  Knicker 
bocker  Nuggets  Series;  2  vols.).  War  Songs  of  the  South  (Richmond-: 
West  &  Johnston,  1862).  Poetry,  Lyrical,  Narrative,  and  Satirical,  of 
the  Civil  War,  selected  and  edited  by  R.  G.  White  (American  News 
Co.,  1866).  Bugle-Echoes,  a  Collection  of  the  Poetry  of  the  Civil  War, 
Northern  and  Southern,  edited  by  F.  F.  Browne  (White,  Stokes  & 
Allen,  1886;  new  edition).  Songs  and  Ballads  of  the  Southern  People, 
1861-1865,  by  Frank  Moore  (Appleton,  1886).  War  Poetry  of  the 
South,  edited  by  W.  G  Simms  (New  York,  1867).  Younger  American 
Poets  [1830-1890] ,  edited  by  D.  Sladen,  with  an  Appendix  of  Younger 
Canadian  Poets,  edited  by  G.  B.  Roberts  (Cassell,  1891).  The  Prose 
Writers  of  America,  by  R.  W.  Griswold  (Porter  &  Coates,  1870;  re 
vised;  first  edition,  1847;  biographies,  criticisms,  selections).  Repre 
sentative  American  Orations  [1775-1881]  ,  edited  by  Alexander  Johnston, 
reedited  by  J.  A.  Woodburn  (Putnam,  1896,  1897;  4  vols.). 

Criticisms  of  Authors  and  Discussions  of  Topics.  —  Poets  of  America, 
by  E.  C.  Stedman  (H.  &  M.,  1885).  Studies  of  Great  Authors,  from  the 
Library  of  the  World's  Best  Literature  (Doubleday  &  McClure,  1899; 
4  vols.).  Short  Studies  of  American  Authors,  by  T.  W.  Higginson  (Lee 
&  Shepard,  1880;  Hawthorne,  Poe,  Thoreau,  Howells,  Helen  Jackson, 
James).  American  Humorists,  by  H.  R.  Haweis  (Chatto  &  Windus, 
1883;  Irving,  Holmes,  Lowell,  Artemus  Ward,  Mark  Twain,  Bret 
Harte).  My  Literary  Passions,  by  W.  D.  Howells  (Harper,  1895;  Irv 
ing,  Longfellow,  Mrs.  Stowe,  D.  G.  Mitchell,  Lowell,  Curtis,  Hawthorne). 
American  Writers  of  To-Day,  by  H.  C.  Vedder  (Silver,  Burdett  &  Co., 
1894).  The  History  of  Historical  Writing  in  America,  by  J.  F.  Jameson 
(H.  &  M.,  1891).  The  Development  of  the  Love  of  Romantic  Scenery 
in  America,  by  Mary  E.  Woolley,  American  Historical  Review,  October, 
1897.  Americanism  in  Literature,  in  Views  and  Reviews,  by  W.  G. 
Simms  (Wiley  &  Putnam,  1845).  Americanism  in  Literature,  in  Atlan 
tic  Essays,  by  T.  W.  Higginson  (Osgood,  1874).  Our  Literature,  by 
J.  R.  Lowell,  in  Literary  and  Political  Addresses.  American  Literature, 
by  Barrett  Wendell,  in  Stelligeri  and  Other  Essays  (Scribner,  1893). 
The  Influence  of  Democracy  on  Literature;  and  Has  America  pro 
duced  a  Poet?  in  Questions  at  Issue,  by  Edmund  Gosse  (Appleton, 
1893).  Two  Principles  in  Recent  American  Fiction,  by. J.  L.  Allen, 
Atlantic  Monthly,  October,  1897.  Literary  Emancipation  of  the  West, 
by  Hamlin  Garland,  Forum,  October,  1893.  The  New  World  and  the 
New  Book,  by  T.  W.  Higginson  (Lee  &  Shepard,  1891;  essays  on 
American  literary  topics).  The  American  Historical  Novel,  by  P.  L. 
Ford,  Atlantic  Monthly,  December,  1897.  American  Humour,  in  Lost 
Leaders,  by  Andrew  Lang  (Paul,  Trench  &  Co.,  1892).  Dialect  in 
Literature,  by  James  Whitcomb  Riley,  Forum,  December,  1892. 

Bibliographies  and  Catalogues.  —  Bibliotheca  Americana,  a  Dictionary 


REFERENCE  LIST  OF  BOOKS  AND  ARTICLES.     347 

of  Books  relating  to  America,  by  Joseph  Sabin  (Sabin,  1868-1891 ;  19 
vols. ;  A  to  Simms).  A  Catalogue  of  the  Harris  Collection  of  American 
Poetry,  by  J.  C.  Stockbridge  (Providence,  1886).  A  Catalogue  of  Books 
relating  to  North  and  South  America  in  the  Library  of  John  Carter 
Brown  of  Providence,  R.  I.,  with  Notes,  by  J.  R.  Bartlett  (Providence, 
1865-1882;  6  vols.).  American  Authors  [1795-1895],  a  Bibliography 
of  First  and  Notable  Editions  chronologically  arranged,  with  Notes,  by 
P.  K.  Foley  (Boston,  1897). 

II.    INDIVIDUAL  AUTHORS. 

John  Adams.  —  Works,  with  a  life,  by  C.  F.  Adams  (Little,  Brown  & 
Co.,  1856;  10  vols.).  Familiar  Letters  of  John  Adams  and  his  Wife, 
edited  by  C.  F.  Adams  (H.  &  M.,  1875).  Life,  by  J.  T.  Morse,  Jr.,  in 
American  Statesmen  Series,  1885.  John  Adams,  with  Other  Essays  and 
Addresses,  by  Mellen  Chamberlain  (H.  &  M.,  1898). 

Samuel  Adams,  —  Life  and  Public  Services,  with  Extracts  from  his 
Correspondence,  State  Papers,  and  Political  Essays,  by  W.  V.  Wells 
(Little,  Brown  &  Co.,  1865  ;  3  vols.).  Life,  by  J.  K.  Hosmer,  in  Ameri 
can  Statesmen  Series,  1885. 

Louis  Agassiz. —  Life  and  Correspondence,  edited  by  Elizabeth  C. 
Agassiz  (H.  cS:  M.,  1885;  2  vols.).  Life  and  Work,  by  C.  F.  Holder 
(Putnam,  1893). 

A.  Branson  Alcott.  —  Concord  Days  (Roberts  Bros.,  1872).  Table 
Talk  (Roberts 'Bros.,  1877).  New  Connecticut,  an  Autobiographical 
Poem  (Roberts  Bros.,  1881).  His  Life  and  Philosophy,  by  F.  B.  Sanborn 
and  W.  T.  Harris  (Roberts  Bros.,  1893;  2  vols.). 

T.  B.  Aldrich.  —  Poetical  Works,  New  Riverside  Edition,  2  vols.; 
Poems,  Household  Edition  (H.  &  M.). 

Fisher  Ames.  —  Works,  edited  by  Seth  Ames  (Little,  Brown  &  Co., 
1854 ;  2  vols.). 

J.  y.  Audubon. —  Life,  edited  by  his  Widow  (Putnam,  1868).  Audu- 
bon  and  his  Journals,  by  Maria  R.  Audubon  (Scribner,  1897;  2  vols.). 

George  Bancroft.  —  History  of  the  United  States  (Appleton,  1885; 
6  vols.). 

Joel  Barlow.  —  Life  and  Letters,  by  C.  B.  Todd  (Putnam,  1886). 
Three  Men  of  Letters,  by  M.  C.  Tyler  (Putnam,  1895). 

H.  W.  Beecher.  —  Patriotic  Addresses,  1850-1885  (Fords,  Howard  & 
Hulbert,  1887).  Biography,  by  W.  C.  Beecher  (Bromfield,  1889). 

G.  H.  Boker. —  Works  (Lippincott). 

Anne  Bradstreet. —  Anne  Bradstreet  and  her  Time,  by  Helen  Camp 
bell  (Lothrop,  1891). 

C.  B.  Brown.  —  Novels  (McKay,  1887;  6  vols.).  Life,  by  William 
Dunlap  (Philadelphia,  1815;  2  vols.).  Memoir,  by  W.  H.  Prescott, 
in  Biographical  and  Critical  Miscellanies,  Vol.  IV.  (Lippincott,  1845; 
reprinted  from  Sparks's  American  Biography,  1834). 


348  APPENDIX. 

C.F.Browne  ("Artemus  Ward  ").  — Complete  Works  (Dilling- 
ham  &Co.,  1898). 

W.  C.  Bryant.  —  Life  and  Works,  edited  by  Parke  Godwin  (Apple- 
ton,  1883-1884;  6  vols. :  i,  2,  biography;  3,  4,  poetical  works  with 
copious  notes;  5,  6,  prose  writings).  Poetical  Works,  Library  Edi 
tion  (Appleton,  1878).  Poetical  Works,  Household  Edition  ^Appleton, 
1878).  Translation  of  the  Iliad  and  the  Odyssey  (H.  &  M.,  1870, 1871). 
Orations  and  Addresses,  Vol.  III.,  by  G.  W.  Curtis  (Harper,  1894). 
Commemorative  Addresses,  by  Parke  Godwin  (Harper,  1895).  Pro 
ceedings  at  the  Centennial  Celebration,  August,  1894,  at  Cummington 
(Bryant  Centennial  Committee,  Cummington,  Mass.).  Life,  by  John 
Bigelow,  in  American  Men  of  Letters  Series,  1890.  A  Biographical 
Sketch,  by  A.  J.  Symington  (Harper,  1880).  The  Origin  of  a  Great 
Poem,  by  J.  W.  Chadwick,  Harper's  Magazine,  September,  1894  (con 
tains  first  form  of  Thanatopsis). 

J.  C.  Calhoun.  —  Works,  edited  by  R.  K.  Cralle  (Appleton,  1851-1855  ; 
6  vols.).  Life,  by  H.  von  Hoist,  in  American  Statesmen  Series,  1883. 

Alice  and  Phcebe  Cary.  —  Poems,  Ballads,  Lyrics,  and  Hymns,  by 
Alice  Cary  (H.  &  M.).  A  Lover's  Diary,  by  Alice  Cary  (Ticknor  & 
Fields,  1868). 

W.  E.  Channing. —  Complete  Works  (Boston,  American  Unitarian 
Association,  1886).  Memoir,  by  W.  H.  Channing  (Boston:  Crosby  & 
Nichols,  1848;  3  vols.).  Reminiscences  of,  by  Elizabeth  P.  Peabody 
(Roberts  Bros.,  1877).  W.  E.  Channing,  by  C.  T.  Brooks  (Roberts  Bros., 
1880).  Memorial  and  Biographical  Sketches,  by  J.  F.  Clarke  (H  &  M.). 

Lydia  M.  Child.  —  Letters  (H.  &  M.,  1882). 

Rufus  Choate.  —  Addresses  and  Orations  (Little,  Brown  &  Co.,  1878). 
Works,  with  a  Memoir,  by  S.  G.  Brown  (Little,  Brown  &  Co.,  1862; 
2  vols.). 

J.  F.  Clarke.  —  Autobiography,  Diary,  and  Correspondence,  edited 
by  E.  E.  Hale  (H.  &  M.,  1891). 

Henry  Clay.  —  Life,  by  Carl  Schurz,  in  American  Statesmen  Series, 
1887  (2  vols.).  Life  and  Speeches  (Greeley  &  McElrath,  1843;  2  vols.). 

J.  F.  Cooper. —  Novels,  Mohawk  Edition  (Putnam,  1896;  32  vols.). 
Novels,  Library  Edition  (Appleton,  1886-1899;  32  vols.).  Works, 
Household  Edition  (H.  &  M. ;  32  vols.).  Life,  by  T.  R.  Lounsbury,  in 
American  Men  of  Letters  Series,  1882  (has  bibliography).  Commemo 
rative  Discourse,  by  W.  C.  Bryant,  in  Prose  Writings,  Vol.  I.  Views 
and  Reviews,  by  W.  G.  Simms  (Wiley  &  Putnam,  1845).  His  Literary 
Offences,  in  How  to  tell  a  Story  and  Other  Essays,  by  Mark  Twain 
(Harper,  1897). 

G.  W.  Curtis.  —  Orations  and  Addresses,  edited  by  C.  E.  Norton 
(Harper,  1894  ;  3  vols.).  Life,  by  Edward  Cary,  in  American  Men  of 
Letters  Series,  1894.  A  Eulogy,  by  William  Winter  (Macmillan,  1893). 
An  Address,  by  J.  W.  Chadwick  (Harper,  1893).  Commemorative 
Addresses,  by  Parke  Godwin  (Harper,  1895). 


REFERENCE  LIST  OF  BOOKS  AND  ARTICLES.     349 

R.  H.  Dana.  —  Poems  and  Prose  Writings  (Baker  &  Scribner,  1850; 
2  vols.). 

Orville  Dewey. —  Autobiography  and  Letters,  edited  by  Mary  E. 
Dewey  (Roberts  Bros.,  1883). 

Emily  Dickinson.  —  Poems  (Roberts  Bros.,  1891 ;  second  series,  1892; 
third  series,  1896).  Letters  (Roberts  Bros.,  1894;  2  vols.). 

J.  R.  Drake.  —  The  Culprit  Fay,  in  Ariel  Booklets  Series  (Putnam, 
1899). 

Jonathan  Edwards.  —  Works  (New  York:  Carvill,  1830;  10  vols.). 
Life,  by  A.  V.  G.  Allen,  in  American  Religious  Leaders  Series,  1889. 

R.  W.  Emerson.  — Works,  Standard  Library  Edition  (H.  &  M.,  1883- 
1887;  14  vols.;  Vols.  XIII. ,  XIV.,  contain  Memoir,  by  J.  E.  Cabot). 
Two  Unpublished  Essays,  with  an  Introduction  by  E.  E.  Hale  (Little, 
Brown  &  Co.).  The  Correspondence  of  Carlyle  and  Emerson,  1834- 
1872  (Osgood  &  Co.,  1883;  2  vols.).  Supplementary  Letters  (Ticknor 
&  Co.,  1886).  Letters  and  Passages  from  Letters  to  a  Friend,  1838- 
1853,  edited  by  C.  E.  Norton  (H.  &  M.,  1899).  A  Memoir,  by  J.  E. 
Cabot  (H.  &  M.,  1887;  2  vols.).  Life,  by  O.  W.  Holmes,  in  American 
Men  of  Letters  Series,  1885.  Life,  by  Richard  Garnett,  in  Great  Writers 
Series  (Scott,  1888 ;  has  bibliography  by  J.  P.  Anderson,  British  Mu 
seum).  His  Maternal  Ancestors,  with  some  Reminiscences  of  him,  by 
D.  G.  Haskins  (Cupples,  Upham  &  Co.,  1887).  Emerson  in  Concord, 
by  E.  W.  Emerson  (H.  &  M.,  1888).  Talks  with,  by  C.  J.  Woodbury 
(Baker  &  Taylor,  1890).  Emerson  at  Home  and  Abroad,  by  M.  D. 
Conway  (Osgood  &  Co.,  1882).  A  Biographical  Sketch,  Personal 
Recollections  of  his  Visits  to  England,  etc.,  by  Alexander  Ireland 
(Simpkin,  Marshall  &  Co.,  1882).  A  Western  Journey  with,  by  J.  B. 
Thayer  (Little,  Brown  &  Co.,  1884).  Emerson,  the  Lecturer,  by  J.  R. 
Lowell,  in  Literary  Essays,  Vol.  I.  Partial  Portraits,  by  Henry  James 
(Macmillan,  1888).  Emerson  as  an  American,  in  Confessions  and 
Criticisms,  by  Julian  Hawthorne  (Ticknor  &  Co.,  1887).  His  Life, 
Writings,  and  Philosophy,  by  G.  W.  Cooke  (Osgood  &  Co.,  1881). 
An  Eslimate  of  his  Character  and  Genius,  by  A.  Bronson  Alcott 
(Williams  &  Co.,  1882).  Genius  and  Character  of  (Osgood  &  Co., 
1885;  lectures  at  the  Concord  School  of  Philosophy,  1884).  Neue 
Essays  iiber  Kunst  und  Literatur,  by  Herman  Grimm  (Berlin,  1865). 
Literature,  by  Herman  Grimm  (Cupples,  Upham  &  Co.,  1885).  The 
Religion  of  the  Future,  by  J.  B.  Crozier  (London,  1880).  Emerson 
and  the  Superlative,  by  John  Burroughs  (Osgood,  1882).  As  a  Poet,  by 
Joel  Benton  (Holbrook  &  Co.,  1883).  Emerson  and  Carlyle;  and 
Emerson  as  a  Poet;  by  E.  P.  Whipple,  in  American  Literature  and 
Other  Papers  (Ticknor  &  Co.,  1887).  An  Essay,  by  John  Morley 
(Macmillan,  1884).  Discourses  in  America,  by  Matthew  Arnold  (Mac 
millan,  1885).  Optimism  of,  by  W.  F.  Dana  (Cupples,  Upham  &  Co., 
1886).  Men  and  Letters,  by  H.  E.  Scudder  (H.  &  M.,  1887).  Obiter 
Dicta,  second  series,  by  Augustine  Birrell  (Scribner,  1887).  Phases  of 


350  APPENDIX. 

Thought  and  Criticism,  by  Brother  Azarias  (H.  &  M.,  1892).  Literary 
and  Social  Essays,  by  G.  W.  Curtis  (Harper,  1895).  Birds  and  Poets, 
by  John  Burroughs  (H.  &  M.,  1897).  Emerson  and  Other  Essays,  by 
J.  ].  Chapman  (Scribner,  1898). 

Edward  Everett.  —  Orations  and  Speeches  (Little,  Brown  &  Co., 
1850-1868;  4  vols.). 

Benjamin  Franklin.  —  Life,  Written  by  himself,  now  First  Edited  from 
Original  Manuscripts  and  from  his  Printed  Correspondence  and  Other 
Writings,  by  John  Bigelow  (Lippincott,  1874;  3  vols.).  Poor  Richard's 
Almanack,  in  the  Thumb-Nail  Series  (Century  Co.,  1898).  The  Many- 
Sided  Franklin,  by  P.  L.  Ford  (Century  Co.,  1899).  The  True  Ben 
jamin  Franklin,  by  S.  G.  Fisher  (Lippincott,  1899).  ^^c>  by  J-  T. 
Morse,  Jr.,  in  American  Statesmen  Series,  1889.  Life,  by  J.  B.  McMaster, 
in  American  Men  of  Letters  Series,  1887.  Franklin  in  France,  by  E.  E. 
Hale  and  E.  E.  Hale,  Jr.  (Roberts  Bros.,  1887).  Causeries  du  Lundi, 
tome  septieme,  par  C.-A.  Sainte-Beuve  (Paris).  English  Portraits,  by 
C.-A.  Sainte-Beuve  (Holt,  1875). 

U.  S.  Grant.  —  Personal  Memoirs  (Webster  &  Co.,  1885;  2  vols.). 

Asa  Gray. —  Letters,  edited  by  Jane  L.  Gray  (H.  &  M.,  1893). 

F.-G.  Halleck.  —  Poetical  Writings  (Appleton,  1869).  Life  and  Letters, 
by  ].  G.  Wilson  (Appleton,  1869).  Commemorative  Discourse,  by 
W.  C.  Bryant,  in  Prose  Writings,  Vol.  I. 

Alexander  Hamilton.  —  Works,  edited  by  J.  C.  Hamilton  (Francis  & 
Co.,  18^1;  7  vols.).  Federalist,  edited  by  P.  L.  Ford  (Holt,  1898). 
Federalist,  edited  by  H.  C.  Lodge  (Putnam,  1888).  Life,  by  J.  C. 
Hamilton  (Appleton,  1834;  2  vols.).  Life,  by  J.  T.  Morse,  Jr.  (Little, 
Brown  &  Co.,  1876 ;  2  vols.).  Life,  by  H.  C.  Lodge,  in  American  States 
men  Series,  1883 .  Life,  by  W.  G.  Sumner,  in  Makers  of  America  Series. 

Nathaniel  Hawthorne.  —Works,  Standard  Library  Edition  (H.  &  M., 
1882-1884;  15  vols.).  Vols.  XIV.,  XV.,  contain  Nathaniel  Hawthorne 
and  his  Wife,  a  Biography,  by  Julian  Hawthorne.  Works,  Popular 
Edition  (H.  &  M.;  8  vols.).  Hawthorne's  First  Diary,  with  an  Ac 
count  of  its  Discovery  and  Loss,  by  S.  T.  Pickard  (H.  &  M.,  1897). 
An  Analytical  Index  to  the  Works  of  (H.  &  M.,  1882).  Nathaniel 
Hawthorne  and  his  Wife,  a  Biography,  by  Julian  Hawthorne  (H.  &  M., 
1884;  2  vols.).  Life,  by  Henry  James,  Jr.,  in  English  Men  of  Letters 
Series  (Harper,  1880).  Life,  by  M.  D.  Conway,  in  Great  Writers  Series 
(Scott;  has  bibliography  by  J.  P.  Anderson,  British  Museum).  Yes 
terdays  with  Authors,  by  J.  T.  Fields  (H.  &  M.,  1871).  Hawthorne, 
by  J.  T.  Fields  (Osgood,  1871).  Personal  Recollections  of,  by  Horatio 
Bridge  (Harper,  1893).  Memories  of,  by  Rose  Hawthorne  Lathrop 
(H.  &  M.,  1897).  Character  and  Characteristic  Men,  by  E.  P. 
Whipple  (Osgood,  1866).  Contes  etranges  imites  d'Hawthorne  par 
E.  A.  Spoil,  precedes  d'une  etude  par  E.  Montegut  (Clichy,  1866). 
Essays,  Vol.  II.,  by  R.  H.  Hutton  (Strahan  &  Co.,  1871).  Poets  and 
Novelists,  by  G.  B.  Smith  (Appleton,  1875).  A  Study  of,  by  G.  P. 


REFERENCE  LIST  OF  BOOKS  AND  ARTICLES      351 

Lathrop  (Osgood,  1876).  Problems  of  the  Scarlet  Letter,  by  Julian 
Hawthorne,  Atlantic  Monthly,  April,  1886.  Literary  Sketches,  by  H. 
S.  Salt  (London,  1888).  Hours  in  a  Library,  Vol.  I.,  by  Leslie  Stephen 
(Putnam,  1894).  Literary  and  Social  Essays,  by  G.  W.  Curtis  (Harper, 

1895). 

P.  H.  Hayne.—  'Poems  (Lothrop,  1882). 

Patrick  Henry.  — Life,  Correspondence,  and  Speeches,  by  W.  W. 
Henry  (Scribner,  1891;  3  vols.).  Life,  by  M.  C.  Tyler,  in  American 
Statesmen  Series,  1888. 

Francis  Higginson. —  Life,  by  T.  W.  Higginson,  in  Makers  of 
America  Series,  1891. 

J.  G.  Holland.  —  Complete  Works  (Scribner,  1867-1895;  16  vols.). 
O.  W.  Holmes.  —  Works,  Standard  Library  Edition  (H.  &  M.,  1892- 
1896;  15  vols.;  Vols.  XIV.,  XV.,  contain  Life  and  Letters,  by  J.  T. 
Morse,  Jr.).  Complete  Poetical  Works,  Cambridge  Edition  (H.  &  M.). 
Life  and  Letters,  by  J.  T.  Morse,  Jr.  (H.  &  M.,  1896).  Letters  to  a 
Classmate,  Century  Magazine,  October,  1897.  O.  W.  Holmes,  by 
Walter  Jerrold  (Macmillan,  1893).  Literary  and  Social  Essays,  by 
G.  W.  Curtis  (Harper,  1895).  Studies  of  a  Biographer,  Vol.  II., 
by  Leslie  Stephen  (Putnam,  1898). 

Thomas  Hooker.  —  Life,  by  G.  L.  Walker,  in  Makers  of  America 
Series,  1891. 

Washington  Irving.  —  Works  (Putnam:  New  Knickerbocker  Edition, 
40  vols.,  1891-1897;  People's  Edition,  23  vols.,  1850-1868).  Life  and 
Letters,  by  P.  M.  Irving  (Putnam,  1862-1863;  4  vols.).  Life,  by  C.  D. 
Warner,  in  American  Men  of  Letters  Series,  1881.  Commemorative 
Discourse,  by  W.  C.  Bryant,  in  Prose  Writings,  Vol.  I.  Nil-  Nisi 
Bonum,  by  W.  M.  Thackeray,  in  Roundabout  Papers.  Studies,  by 
C.  D.  Warner,  W.  C.  Bryant,  G.  P.  Putnam  (Putnam,  1880).  Literary 
and  Social  Essays,  by  G.  W.  Curtis  (Harper,  1895). 

Thomas  Jefferson.  —  Writings,  edited  by  P.  L.  Ford  (Putnam,  1892- 
1898;  9  vols.  out;  to  be  completed  in  10).  Life,  by  J.  T.  Morse, 
Jr.,  in  American  Statesmen  Series,  1884.  Life,  by  James  Schouler,  in 
Makers  of  America  Series,  1893.  Life,  by  H.  S.  Randall  (Lippincott, 
1857;  3  vols.). 

J.  P.  Kennedy.  —  Life,  by  H.  T.  Tuckerman  (Putnam,  1871). 
James  Kent.  —  Memoirs  and  Letters,  by  William  Kent  (Little,  Brown 
&  Co.,  1898). 

Sidney  Lanier.  — Poems,  edited  by  his  Wife,  with  a  Memorial  by 
W.  H.  Ward  (Scribner,  1884).  Select  Poems,  edited,  with  introduc 
tion,  life,  and  notes,  by  Morgan  Callaway,  Jr.  (Scribner,  1895).  Letters, 
Atlantic  Monthly,  July,  August,  1894.  Life,  by  W.  M.  Baskervill,  in 
Southern  Writers  Series  (Nashville:  Barbee  &  Smith,  1897). 

Emma  Lazarus.  —  Poems,  with  Biographical  Sketch  (H.  &  M.,  1889; 

2  Vols.). 

Abraham  Lincoln.  —  Complete  Works,  edited  by  J.  G.  Nicolay  and 


352  APPENDIX. 

John  Hay  (Century  Co.,  1894;  2  vols.).  Life,  by  J.  G.  Nicolay  and 
John  Hay  (Century  Co.,  1890;  10  vols.).  Life,  by  J.  T.  Morse,  Jr.,  in 
American  Statesmen  Series,  1893  (2  vols.).  History  and  Personal  Rec 
ollections  of,  by  W.  H.  Herndon,  his  Law  Partner  (Belford,  Clarke  & 
Co.,  1889;  3  vols.).  Life,  by  Ida  M.  Tarbell  (Doubleday  &  McClure, 
1899).  Reminiscences  of,  by  Distinguished  Men  of  his  Time  (New 
York,  published  by  the  North  American  Review,  1885).  Abraham 
Lincoln  [1864-1865] ,  by  J.  R.  Lowell,  in  Political  Essays.  An  Essay 
by  Carl  Schurz  (H.  &  M.,  1891). 

D.R.Locke  ("  Petroleum  V.  Nasby").  —  Works  (Lee  &  Shepard, 
1866-1890). 

H.  IV.  Longfellow.  —  Works,  Standard  Library  Edition  (H.  &  M., 
1886-1891;  14  vols.;  Vols.  XIII.-XV.  contain  Life  and  Final  Memo 
rials,  by  Samuel  Longfellow).  Complete  Poetical  Works,  Cambridge 
Edition  (H.  &  M.).  Translation  of  the  Divina  Commedia  (H.  & 
M.,  1867).  Longfellow  Collector's  Handbook,  a  Bibliography  of  First 
Editions  (New  York  :  W.  E.  Benjamin,  1885).  Life,  by  Samuel  Long 
fellow  (Ticknor  &  Co.,  1886;  2  vols.).  Final  Memorials,  edited  by 
Samuel  Longfellow  (Ticknor  &  Co.,  1887 ;  has  bibliography,  genealogy, 
etc.).  Life,  by  Eric  S.  Robertson,  in  Great  Writers  Series  (Scott,  1887; 
has  bibliography  by  J.  P.  Anderson,  British  Museum).  Seventy-fifth 
Birthday :  Proceedings  of  the  Maine  Historical  Society,  Feb.  27,  1882 
(Portland:  Hoyt,  Fogg  &  Donham,  1882).  His  Life,  his  Work,  his 
Friendships,  by  G.  L.  Austin  (Lee  &  Shepard,  1882).  A  Biographical 
Sketch,  by  F.  H.  Underwood  (Osgood,  1882).  Old  Shrines  and  Ivy, 
by  William  Winter  (Macmillan,  1892).  The  Religion  of  our  Literature, 
by  George  M'Crie  (London,  1875).  La  Poesie  en  Amerique,  par  Louis 
Depret  (Lille,  1876).  Etudes  Americaines,  par  A.  De  Prins  (Louvain, 
1877).  Literar-historische  Studie,  von  Karl  Knortz  (Hamburg,  1879). 
H.  W.  Longfellow,  by  Thomas  Davidson  (Little,  Brown  &  Co.,  1882). 
Estudios  sobre  Longfellow,  por  Victor  SuarezCapalleja  (Madrid,  1883). 
Tales  of  a  Wayside  Inn  und  ihre  Quellen,  von  H.  Varnhagen  (Berlin, 
1884).  His  Art,  and  the  Shaping  of  Excelsior,  in  Men  and  Letters,  by 
H.  E.  Scudder  (H.  &  M.,  1887).  Letters  on  Literature,  by  Andrew  Lang 
(Longmans,  1889;  second  edition).  Literary  and  Social  Essays,  by 
G.  W.  Curtis  (Harper,  1895). 

y.  R.  Lowell.  —  Works,  Standard  Library  Edition  (H.  &  M.,  1892; 
ii  vols.).  Poems,  Cambridge  Edition  (H.  &  M.).  Letters,  edited  by  C. 
E.  Norton  (Harper,  1894:  2  vols.).  A  Biographical  Sketch,  by  F.  H. 
Underwood  (Osgood,  1882).  Contributions  toward  a  Lowell  Bibli 
ography,  The  Literary  World,  June  27, 1885.  Cannon  Farrar  on,  Forum, 
October,  1891.  R.  H.  Stoddard  on,  North  American  Review,  October, 
1891.  C.  E.  Norton  on,  Harper's  Magazine,  May,  1893.  Lowell  as  a 
Teacher,  by  Barrett  Wendell,  in  Stelligeri  (Scribner,  1893).  The  Poet 
and  the  Man,  Recollections  and  Appreciations,  by  F.  H.  Underwood 
(Lee  and  Shepard,  1893).  Lowell  and  his  Friends,  by  E.  E.  Hale 


REFERENCE  LIST  OF  BOOKS  AND  ARTICLES.     353 

(H.  &  M.,  1899).  Conversations  with,  in  his  last  years,  Atlantic  Monthly, 
January, '1897.  Essays  in  London  and  Elsewhere,  by  Henry  James 
(Harper,  1893).  Orations  and  Addresses,  Vol.  III.,  by  G.  W.  Curtis 
(Harper,  1894).  Lowell  as  a  Critic,  in  Excursions  in  Criticism,  by 
William  Watson  (Macmillan,  1893). 

Cotton  Mather.  —  Life,  by  Barrett  Wendell,  in  Makers  of  America 
Series,  1891. 

y.  L.  Motley.  —  Histories  (Harper).  Correspondence,  edited  by 
G.  W.  Curtis  (Harper,  1889;  2  vols.).  Memoir,  by  O.  W.  Holmes 
(H.  &  M.,  1878). 

Margaret  Fuller  Ossoli.  —  Life  Without  and  Life  Within  ;  or  Reviews, 
Narratives,  Essays,  and  Poems,  edited  by  A.  B.  Fuller  (Brown,  Taggard 
&  Chase,  1859).  Memoirs,  by  J.  F.  Clarke,  R.  W.  Emerson,  W.  H. 
Channing  (Phillips,  Sampson  &  Co.,  1851 ;  2  vols.).  Life,  by  Julia  W. 
Howe,  in  Famous  Women  Series  (Roberts  Bros.,  1883).  Life,  by  T. 
W.  Higginson,  in  American  Men  of  Letters  Series,  1884. 

James  Otis.— 'Life,  by  William  Tudor  (Boston  :  Wells  &  Lyly,  1823). 
Thomas  Paine.  —  Writings,  edited  by  M.  D.  Conway  (Putnam,  1894- 
1896;  4  vols.).     Life,  by  M.  D.  Conway^ (Putnam,  1892;  2  vols.). 

Theodore  Porter.  — Critical  and  Miscellaneous  Writings  (Boston: 
Leighton,  Jr.,  1843).  Works,  edited  by  Frances  P.  Cobbe  (Trubner  & 
Co.,  1863-1865;  12  vols.).  Life  and  Correspondence,  by  John  Weiss 
(Appleton,  1863;  2  vols.).  Life,  by  John  Fiske,  in  American  Religious 
Leaders  Series.  Memorial  and  Biographical  Sketches,  by  J.  F.  Clarke 
(H.  &  M.). 

Francis  Parkman.  —  Works  (Little,  Brown  &  Co.,  1865-1898  ;  12  vols). 
T.  W.  Parsons.  —  Poems  (H.  &  M.,  1893). 

J.  K.  Paulding.  —  Literary  Life  of,  by  W.  I.  Paulding  (Scribner,  1867). 
J.  G.  Perceval.—  Poetical  Works  (Ticknor  &  Fields,  1859;  2  vols.). 
Literary  Essays,  Vol.  II.,  by  J.  R.  Lowell. 

Wendell  Phillips.  —  Speeches,  Lectures,  and  Letters  (Lee  &  Shepard, 
1863,  1892;  2  vols.).  Life  and  Times,  by  G.  L.  Austin  (Lee  &  Shepard, 
1884) .  Orations  and  Addresses,  Vol.  1 1 1 . ,  by  G.  W.  Curtis  (Harper,  1894). 
E.  A.  Poe.  —  Works,  edited  by  E.  C.  Stedman  and  G.  E.  Woodberry 
(Stone  &  Kimball,  1894-1895;  10  vols.).  Works,  with  Memoir,  by 
J.  H.  Ingram  (A.  &  C.  Black,  1890,  fourth  edition;  4  vols.).  Poems, 
with  an  Essay  on  his  Poetry  by  Andrew  Lang  (Paul,  Trench  &  Co., 
1881).  Selections  from  his  correspondence,  Century  Magazine,  August, 
September,  October,  1894.  Life,  by  G.  E.  Woodberry,  in  American 
Men  of  Letters  Series,  1885.  Memoir,  by  R.  W.  Griswold,  in  Vol.  III. 
of  his  edition  of  Poe's  Works  (New  York:  Redfield,  1850).  Poe  and 
his  Critics,  by  Sarah  H.  Whitman  (New  York  :  Rudd  &  Carleton,  1860). 
Memoir,  by  R.  H.  Stoddard,  in  his  edition  of  Poe  (New  York  :  Widdle- 
ton,  1874).  Life,  by  E.  L.  Didier,  in  his  edition  of  Poe  (New  York: 
Widdleton,  1876).  Life,  by  W.  F.  Gill  (Chatto  &  Windus,  1877). 
Letters  to  Dead  Authors,  by  Andrew  Lang  (Scribner,  1893). 


354  APPENDIX. 

W.  H,  Prescott.  —  Works  (Lippincott,  1872-1875).  Life,  by  George 
Ticknor  (Ticknor  &  Fields,  1863). 

Josiah  Quincy.  —  Speeches,  edited  by  Edmund  Quincy  (Little,  Brown 
&  Co.,  1874). 

John  Randolph.  —  Life,  by  Henry  Adams,  in  American  Statesmen 
Series,  1883.  Visits  to,  and  Randolph  in  the  Senate,  in  Figures  of  the 
Past,  by  Josiah  Quincy  (Roberts  Bros.,  1883). 

T.  B.  Read.  —  Poetical  Works  (Lippincott,  1866;  3  vols. ;  revised  edi 
tion,  i  vol.,  1882). 

George  Ripley.—  'Lite,  by  O.  B.  Frothingham,  in  American  Men  of 
Letters  Series,  1883. 

Susanna  Rowson.  —  Memoir,  by  Elias  Nason  (Albany,  1870). 

J.  G.  Saxe.  —  Poems,  Household  Edition  (H.  &  M.). 

Catharine  M.  Sedgiaick.  —  Life  and  Letters  (Harper,  1871). 

P.  B.  Shillaber.  —  Partingtonian  Patchwork,  etc.  (Lee  &  Shepard 
1872-1881). 

A.  A1.  Sill.—  Poems  ;  and  the  Hermitage,  and  Later  Poems  (H.  &  M.). 

W.  G.  Simms.  — Poems  (New  York:  Redfield,  1853;  2  vols.).  Novels 
(Redfield,  1859;  iSvols.;  Lovell,  1884-1886 ;  18  vols.).  Life,  by  W.  P. 
Trent,  in  American  Men  of  Letters  Series,  1892  (has  bibliography). 

John  Smith.  —  Works,  edited  by  Edward  Arber,  in  English  Scholar's 
Library  (Birmingham,  1884;  2  vols.).  Life,  by  W.  G.  Simms  (New 
York;  Cooledge  and  Bro.,  1846).  Life,  by  C.  D.  Warner  (Holt,  1881). 

Jared  Sparks.  —  Life  and  Writings,  by  H.  B.  Adams  (H.  &  M.,  1893; 

2  VOls.). 

E.  C.  Stedman.  —  Prose  and  Poetical  Works,  4  vols. ;  Poems,  House 
hold  Edition  (H.  &  M.). 

R.  H.  Stoddard.—  PoQi\ca\  Writings  (Scribner). 

W.  W.  Story.  —  Poems  (H.  &  M. ;  2  vols.).  Graffiti  d'  Italia  (Scrib 
ner,  1868). 

H.  B.  Stowe.  —  'Lite  and  Letters,  by  Annie  Fields  (H.  &  M.,  1897). 
Life,  by  C.  E.  Stowe  (H.  &  M.,  1889).  Notes  on  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  : 
being  a  Logical  Answer  to  its  Allegations  and  Inferences  against  Slavery 
as  an  Institution,  by  Rev.  E.  J.  Stearns  (Lippincott,  Grambo  &  Co., 
1853).  Essays  on  Fiction,  by  N.  W.  Senior  (Longman,  1864). 

Charles  Sumner.  —  Works  (Lee  &  Shepard,  1870-1883;  15  vols.). 
Memoir  and  Letters,  by  E.  L.  Pierce  (Roberts  Bros.,  1877-1893; 
4  vols.).  Life,  by  Moorefield  Storey,  in  American  Statesmen  Series, 
1899.  Memorial  and  Biographical  Sketches,  by  J.  F.  Clarke  (H.  &  M.). 
Orations  and  Addresses,  Vol.  III.,  by  G.  W.  Curtis  (Harper,  1894). 
Eulogy,  by  Carl  Schurz  (Lee  &  Shepard,  1874). 

Bayard  Taylor.  —  Travels  (Putnam,  1850-1889;  n  vols.).  Novels 
(Putnam,  1862-1872;  5  vols.).  Life  and  Poetical  Works  (H.  &  M. ;  6 
vols.).  Life,  by  A.  H.  Smyth,  in  American  Men  of  Letters  Series,  1896. 
Life  and  Letters,  edited  by  Marie  Hansen-Taylor  and  H.  E.  Scudder 
(H.  &M.,  1884;  2  vols.). 


REFERENCE  LIST  OF  BOOKS  AND  ARTICLES.     355 

H.  D.  Thoreau.—  Works,  Riverside  Edition  (H.  &  M.,  1854-1881* 
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F.  B.  Sanborn  (H.  &  M.).  Familiar  Letters,  edited  by  F.  B.  San- 
born  (H.  &  M.,  1894).  Bibliography,  by  S.  A.  Jones  (New  York,  1894), 
Life,  by  F.  B.  Sanborn,  in  American  Men  of  Letters  Series,  1882.  Life, 
by  H.  S.  Salt,  in  Great  Writers  Series  (Scott,  1896;  has  bibliography  by 
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numerous  references  to  Thoreau).  His  Life  and  Aims,  by  H.  A.  Page 
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Vol.  I.  R.  W.  Emerson,  Works,  Vol.  X.  An  American  Rousseau, 
Saturday  Review,  1864,  Vol.  XVIII.  Thoreau,  the  Poet-Naturalist 
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R.  L.  Stevenson  (Chatto  &  Windus,  1882).  Indoor  Studies,  by  John 
Burroughs  (H.  &  M.,  1889).  Liberty  and  a  Living,  by  P.  G.  Hubert 
(New  York,  1889).  Nature  in  Books,  by  P.  A.  Graham  (London,  1891). 
George  Ticknor. —  Life,  Letters,  and  Journals,  by  G.  S.  Hillard 
(Oigood  &  Co.,  1876;  2  vols.). 

Jones  Very.  —  Poems  and  Essays,  Complete  Edition,  with  a  Bio 
graphical  Sketch  by  J.  F.  Clarke  (H.  &  M.,  1886).  Poems,  with  an 
Introductory  Memoir  by  W.  P.  Andrew  (H.  &  M.,  1883). 

Mercy  Warren.  —  Life,  by  Alice  Brown,  in  Women  of  Colonial  and 
Revolutionary  Times  Series  (Scribner,  1896). 

George  IVas'hingf  on.  — Writings,  edited  by  W.  C.  Ford  (Putnam, 
1889-1893;  14  vols.).  The  True  George  Washington,  by  P.  L.  Ford 
(Lippincott,  1896).  Life,  by  H.  C  Lodge,  in  American  Statesmen 
Series,  1889  (2  vols.). 

Daniel  Webster.  —  Works,  with  Memoir  by  Edward  Everett  (Little  & 
Brown,  1851 ;  6  vols.).  The  Great  Speeches  and  Orations  (Little,  Brown 
&  Co.,  1879).  Unpublished  Manuscripts  and  Some  Examples  of  his 
Preparation  for  Public  Speaking,  by  G.  F.  Hoar,  Scribner's  Magazine, 
July,  1899.  Life,  by  G.  T.  Curtis  (Appleton,  1869-1870;  2  vols.).  Life, 
by  H.  C.  Lodge,  in  American  Statesmen  Series,  1884.  Reminiscences 
and  Anecdotes  of,  by  Peter  Harvey  (Little,  Brown  &  Co.,  1877) .  Orations 
and  Speeches,  Vols.  III.,  IV.,  by  Edward  Everett.  As  a  Master  of  Eng 
lish  Style,  by  E.  P.  Whipple,  in  American  Literature  and  Other  Papers 
(Ticknor  &  Co.,  1887).  As  an  Orator,  and  a  Glance  at,  in  John  Adams, 
with  Other  Essays  and  Addresses,  by  Mellen  Chamberlain  (H.  &  M., 
1898). 

Noah  Webster.  — -  Life,  by  H.  E.  Scudder,  in  American  Men  of 
Letters  Series,  1882. 

Walt  Whitman.  —  Calamus  ;  Letters  to  Peter  Doyle ;  Complete  Pn  ~e 
Works ;    Leaves  of  Grass ;    Leaves  of  Grass,  Popular  Edition ;  Selev 
tions  from  the  Prose  and  Poetry  of;  The  Wound  Dresser;  Letters  to 
his  Mother  (Small,  Maynard  &  Co.).    Autographia,  selected  from  his 


356  APPENDIX. 

Vrose  Writings  (Webster  &  Co.,  1892).  Letters  from  Washington  dur 
ing  the  War,  Century  Magazine,  October,  1893.  The  Man,  by  Thomas 
Donaldson  (F.  P.  Harper,  1896).  Reminiscences  of,  by  W.  S.  Ken 
nedy  (McKay,  1896).  Familiar  Studies  of  Men  and  Books,  by  R.  L. 
Stevenson  (Chatto  &  Windus,  1882).  Studies  in  Literature  [1789- 
1877],  by  Edward  Dowden  (Paul,  Trench  &  Co.,  1889).  Democratic 
Art,  with  Special  Reference  to  Walt  Whitman,  in  Essays  Speculative 
and  Suggestive,  Vol.  II.,  by  J.  A.  Symonds  (Chapman  &  Hall,  1890). 
Walt  Whitman,  by  William  Clarke  (Macmillan,  1892).  A  Study  of, 
by  R.  M.  Bucke,  M.D.  (McKay,  1883).  Browning  and  Whitman,  a 
Study  in  Democracy,  by  O.  L.  Triggs  (Macmillan,  1893).  A  Study  of,  by 
J.  A.  Symonds  (Nimmo,  1893).  A  Study  of,  by  John  Burroughs  (H.  & 
M.,  1896).  Studies  in  Prose  and  Poetry,  by  A.  C.  Swinburne  (Chatto  & 
Windus,  1897;  second  edition).  Emerson  and  Other  Essays,  by  J.  J. 
Chapman  (Scribner,  1898).  The  New  Spirit,  by  Havelock  Ellis  (Scott, 
1890). 

y.  G.  Whittler.  —  Works,  Standard  Library  Edition  (H.  &  M.,  1892- 
1894;  9  vols. ;  Vols.  VIII.,  IX.,  contain  Life  and  Letters,  by  S.  T. 
Pickard).  Complete  Poetical  Works,  Cambridge  Edition  (H.  & 
M.).  Life  and  Letters,  by  S.  T.  Pickard  (H.  &  M.,  1894;  2  vols.). 
Life,  by  W.  J.  Linton,  in  Great  Writers  Series  (Scott,  1893 ;  has  bibli 
ography  by  j.  P.  Anderson,  British  Museum).  A  Biography,  by  F.  H. 
Underwood  (Osgood,  1883).  Notes  of  his  Life  and  of  his  Friendships, 
by  Mrs.  J.  T.  Fields  (Harper,  1893).  G.  E.  Woodberry  on,  Atlantic 
Monthly,  November,  1892.  Personal  Recollections  of,  by  Mary  B. 
Claflin  (Crowell,  1893).  E.  S.  Phelps  on,  Century  Magazine,  January, 
1893.  Barrett  Wendell,  Stelligeri  (Scribner,  1893).  With  the  Children, 
by  Margaret  Sidney  (Lothrop,  1893).  Barbara  Frietchie,  a  Study,  by 
Caroline  H.  Dall  (Roberts  Bros.,  1892).  Oration  by  Thomas  Chase, 
President  of  Haverford  College,  in  Proceedings  at  the  Presentation  of 
a  Portrait  of  Whittier  to  Friends'  School,  Providence  (Riverside  Press, 
1885).  Life,  Genius,  and  Writings,  by  W.  S.  Kennedy  (Lothrop,  1886). 

Roger  Williams.  —  Life,  Letters,  and  Works  (Providence:  Publica 
tions  of  the  Narragansett  Club,  1866-1874,  6  vols.).  Life,  by  O.  S. 
Straus  (Century  Co.,  1894). 

N.  P.  Willis.  —  Poems  (New  York  :  Clark  &  Austin,  1861).  Life,  by 
H.  A.  Beers,  in  American  Men  of  Letters  Series,  1885  (has  bibliography). 

John  Winthrop. —  Life,  by  J.  H.  Twichell,  in  Makers  of  America 
Series,  1891.  Life  and  Letters,  by  R.  C.  Winthrop  (Little,  Brown  &  Co., 

1863;    2  VOls.). 

R.  C.  Winthrop. — Addresses  and  Speeches  (Little,  Brown  &  Co., 
1852-1886;  4  vols.).  Memoir,  by  R.  C.  Winthrop,  Jr.  (Little,  Brown  & 
Co.,  1897). 

John  Woolman.  —  Journal,  with  introduction  by  Whittier  (Osgood, 
1873). 


INDEX. 


INDEX. 


Abraham,  Lincoln,  249. 
Adams,  Abigail,  52. 
Adams,  John,  46,  49,  52. 
Adams,  Rev.  John,  37,  335. 
Adams,  Samuel,  47-48. 
Addison,  Joseph,  15^  32,  52,  56, 

121,  124.       ' 
Adjustment,  238. 
Adulateur,  67,  337. 
Adventure  of  One  Hans  Pfaal, 

164. 

Afloat  and  Ashore,  130. 
After  a  Tempest,  146. 
Age  of  Reason,  79. 
Ages,  143. 

Akenside,  Mark,  80. 
Al  Aaraaf,  167. 
Alban  the  Pirate,  149. 
Alcott,  A.  B.,  205,  209-210. 
Alcuin,  95. 
Aldrich,T.  B.,  283. 
Algerine  Captive,  93. 
Alhambra,  124-125. 
Allen,  Ethan,  52,  338. 
Allen,  J.  L.,288. 
Allston,  Washington,  82. 
Alnwick  Castle,  114. 
Alsop,  George,  39,  335. 
Alsop,  Richard,  87. 
America,  173. 
American  Flag,  114. 
American  literature  — 

Americanism  in,    12,   15,  54, 

59,  62,  80,  91,  92,  93,  100 

-101,  123,  126,  135,  136, 


171,  249,  254-255,  257, 
258,  264,  267-269,  274, 
281-282,  284-289,  290, 
346;  and  classic  literature, 
12,24,41,71-72,  138,145, 
147,  20 1,  260,  266,  340; 
and  English  life  and  litera 
ture,  3,  7-9,  15,18,23,25, 
27,  28,  36,  37,  40,  41,  42, 

45,  52,  54,  55,  57,  5»»  59, 
60,  61,  62,  64,  66,  67,  68, 
71-72,  78,  79,  80,  82,  83- 
86,  89-90,  91,  92,  93,  94, 
95,99,  loo,  109,  113,114, 
115,  116,  118,  119,  121, 
123,  124,  128,  138,  144, 
145,  146,  147,  149,  150, 

J52>  J53,  155,  !56»  i57» 
158,  159,  1 66,  168,  169, 
171,  172,  175,  176,  196, 

2OI,  226,  229,  230,  236, 
239,  244,  246,  248,  249, 
256,  260,  26l,  263,  264, 

265,  266,  283,  286;  and 
European  (continental) 
life  and  literatures,  46,  56, 

71,  91,  92,  93,  109,    118, 
119,    124-125,    153,    157, 
169,   175,   176,    179,    182, 
183,   184,   186,   1 88,   190, 

193-195,  2OI,  226,  26O, 
263,  265,  28l,  282,  283; 

general  condition  affect 
ing,  7-9,  43-45,  61,  71- 

72,  74-77,  103-111,  222, 


359 


INDEX. 


225,  267,  279-280,  282- 
283;  Indians  in,  12,  18, 
19,  20-21,  31,  35,  38,  39, 
40,  59,  65,  67,  no,  113, 
114,  115,  116,  127,  132, 

133,  134,    143,   153,   155, 
156,    187-188,    234,    286, 
293>295»307>3I7;  Nature 
in,  59,  61-62,  83,  84-86, 
89, 109-110,  in,  113, 115, 
116,  118,   126,   127,   133, 

134,  138,    I43-I47>    148, 

184,  207,  2O8,  212,  213, 
221,  223,  239,  244-245, 

273,  285,  287,  346;  and 
Orientalism,  201,^64-265, 
266;  Romanticism  in,  59, 
64,  79-80,82-86,  95-101, 

5»   X95»  226»  28l>  286> 

346. 
Americanism     (see    "  American 

literature  "  ). 
Ames,  Fisher,  78. 
Among  the  Hills,  237. 
Anarchiad,  59,  339. 
Andre,  149. 

Andros,  Thomas,  52,  338. 
Annabel  Lee,  169. 
A  nti- Slavery  Poems,  170. 
Arbuthnot,  John,  54. 
Archdale,  John,  38,  335. 
Armies    of  the     United    States, 

59- 

Arnold,  Matthew,  207,  209,  246. 
Artemus,  Ward :  His  Book,  etc., 

274. 

Arthur  Gordon  Pym,  164,  165. 
Arthur  Nervyn,  94,  96-97,  100. 
Assignation,  165. 
Astoria,  125. 
Atalantis,  155. 


Atlantic  Monthly,  107,  253. 
Augustus  and  Aurelian,  93. 
Aurelian,  172. 
Atitobiography  of  Franklin,  56- 

57»  35°- 

Autobiography  of  Jefferson,  52. 
Autocrat  of  the  Breakfast  J^able, 

253,  256-258. 
Aylmere,  261. 

Backwoodsman,  113. 
Balloon  Hoax,  164. 
Balzac,  Honore,  134. 
Bancroft,  George,  278. 
Barbara  Frietchie,  235. 
Barefoot  Boy,  236. 
Barlow,  Joel,  59,  62-63,  3T9>  339- 
Barton,  Andrew,  67,  337. 
Battle  Hymn  of  the  Republic,  174. 
Battle  of  Brooklyn,  68,  338. 
Battle  of  Bunker's- Hill,  68,  321, 

338. 

Battle  of  Niagara,  8^-90. 
Battle  of  Tippecanoe,  149. 
Battle-Pieces,  149. 
Bay  Fight,  1 74. 
Bay  Psalm  Book,  25. 
Bedouin  Song,  264. 
Beecher,  H.  W.,  274,  345. 
Belknap,  Jeremy,  92. 
Bells,  1 66. 
Ben  Bolt,  261. 
Benjamin,  Park,  1 1 6. 
Berenice,  1 66. 
Bertram,  156. 
Beverley,  Robert,  15,  329. 
Bianca  Visconti,  115. 
Biglow  Papers,  245-246. 
Biographical  Stories,  219. 
Bird,  R.  M.,  260. 
Black  Cat,  165. 


INDEX 


Blair,  Rev.  James,  14. 
Blair,  Robert,  144-145. 
Blake,  William,  226. 
Bleecker,  A.  E.,  92-93. 
Blithedale    Romance,    221,    223, 

224. 

Blockheads  (opera),  68,  339. 
Blockheads  (play),  68,  338. 
Boker,  G.  H.,  261. 
Boston,  81. 

Boston  News-Letter,  304,  323. 
Bosworth,  Benjamin,  29. 
Bracebridge  Hall,  123-124. 
Brackenridge,  H.  H.,  68,  93,  321, 

333. 

Bradford,  William,  1 8,  295,  330. 
Bradstreet,  Anne,  26-27, 299»  33  *• 
Brahma,  207. 
Brainard,  J.  G.,  173. 
"Bread  and  Cheese  Lunch,"  128, 

142. 

Breechiad,  81. 
"  Bret  Marte,"  286. 
Bridal  of  Pennacook,  234. 
Brief  and  Plain  Essay,  37,  335. 
British  Prison-Ship,  63,  340. 
Broken  Harp,  84. 
Brook    Farm    Community,    205, 

2x7,  221,  343,  345. 
Brooke,  Henry,  41. 
Brooks,  M.  G.,  171-172. 
Broomstick  Train,  255. 
Brother  Jonathan,  171. 
Brown,  C.  B.,  94-101,  121,  157, 

169,  170,  226. 
Browne,  C.  F.,  274,  346. 
Brownell,  H.  H.,  174. 
Browning,  E.  B.,  169. 
Browning,  Robert,  176. 
Brutus,  115. 
Bryant,    W.    C  — life,   136-142; 


works,  87,  137,   142-148; 
miscellaneous,    108,     163, 

184,  345- 
Buccaneer,  170. 

Buckthorne  and  His  Friends,  1 24. 
Buds  and  Bird-  Voices,  220. 
Building  of  the  Ship,  184. 
Burke,  Edmund,  79. 
Burnett,  F.  H.,  288. 
Burns,  114. 
Burns,  Robert,  229. 
Burroughs,  John,  284. 
Busy -Body  papers,  56. 
Butler,  Samuel,  61,  82. 
Butler,  W.  A.,  149. 
Byles,  Mather,  32,  37,  308,  334. 
Byrd,  Colonel  William,  15,  294, 

329,  33°. 

Byron,  Lord,  79,  83,  89,  90,  114, 
115,  149,  152,  153,  155, 
168,  172,  286. 

Cable,  G.  W.,  288. 

Calaynos,  261. 

Calhoun,  J.  C.,  274-275. 

California  Ballads,  264. 

Callender,  John,  35,  335. 

Calvert,  G.  H.,  153. 

Campbell,  Thomas,  65,  80. 

Carey,  Mathew,  87. 

Carlyle,  Thomas,  194,  199,  200, 
20 1,  204. 

Gary,  Alice  and  Phoebe,  149-150. 

Cassandra  Southivick,  234. 

Cassique  of  Accabee,  156. 

Caterpillar,  85. 

Cathedral,  246. 

Cato  —  Moral  Distichs,  transla 
tion  of,  41,  336. 

Catter -skill  Falls,  147. 

Cecil  Dreeme,  175. 


362 


INDEX. 


Celestial  Railroad,  220, 

Chambered  Nautilus,  255. 

Changeling  246. 

Charming,  W.  E.,  26,  274. 

Character  of  the  Province  of 
Maryland,  39,  335. 

"  Charles  E.  Craddock,"  288. 

Charlotte  Temple,  93,  94. 

Chatham,  Earl,  45,  46. 

Chaucer,  Geoffrey,  42,  153,  244. 

Child,  L.  M.,  172. 

Choate,  Rufus,  276,  345. 

Christ  in  Hades,  149. 

Christus,  190. 

Chronological  History  of  New 
England,  36,  335. 

Church,  Benjamin,  35,  335. 

Church,  Thomas,  35,  334. 

Churchill,  Charles,  61,  64,  66. 

Church'ill,  Winston,  289. 

Cicero  —  He  Senectnte,  transla 
tion  of,  41. 

City  in  the  Sea,  1 68. 

Clara  Howard,  94,  96,  97,  99. 

C/ari,  114. 

Classic  literature  (see  "  American 
literature  "). 

Clay,  Henry,  275. 

Clemens,  S.  L.,  286-287,  346. 

Cleopatra,  176. 

Clever  Stories  of  Many  Nations, 
149. 

Cliff  ton,  William,  81. 

Clio,  172. 

Clough,  A.  II.,  246. 

Golden,  Cadwallader,  39,  335. 

Coleridge,  S.   T.,  83,    149,    168, 

194,  2OI,  226,  244. 

Collection   of  Poems   by   Several 

Hands,  37,  307,  335. 
Colleges,  325. 


Collins,  William,  58,  60. 
Colman,  Benjamin,  32,  37,  334. 
Columbia d,  62-63,  3!9»  339- 
Columbian  Magazine,  311. 
Columbus,  244. 
Common  Sense,  50,  338. 
Concord  Hymn,  208. 
Conqueror  Worm,  168. 
Conquest   of  Canaan,   61,    318, 

339- 

Conquest  of  Louisburg,  37,  335. 

Conquest  of  Mexico,  277. 

Conquest  of  Peru,  277. 

Conrad,  R.  T.,  261. 

Contemplations,  26,  299. 

Contrast,  90. 

Cook,  Ebenezer,  39,  335. 

Cooke,  J.  E.,  157-158. 

Cooke,  P.  P.,  153. 

Cooper,  J.  F.  —  life,  126-130; 
works,  101,  126-127,  130- 
136;  miscellaneous,  156* 

'57.  345- 
Coquette,  94. 
Correspondent,  60. 
Cotton,  John,  19,  22,  25,  29,  302, 

332- 

Country  Lovers,  Si. 
Court  of  Fancy,  41,  309,  336. 
Courtin\  8 1,  245. 
Courtship    of    Miles     Standish, 

186-187. 

Cowper,  William,  84,  144,  14^- 
Grahbe,  George,  84. 
Crafts,  William,  152. 
Crevecoeur,  J.   H.   St.  John,  54- 

55»  315'  339- 
Crisis,  50. 

Croaker  poems,  113-114. 
Crowded  Street,  143. 
Culprit  Fay,  113. 


INDEX. 


363 


Cure  for  the  Spleen,  54,  313,  338. 
Curtis,  G.  W.,  277,  346. 

Dana,  R.  H.,  26,  170,  345. 

Dana,  R.  H.,  Jr.,  174. 

Dante,  Alighieri,  176,  190,  266. 

Day  of  Doom,  27-28,  300,  331. 

Days,  207,  208, 

Dead  House,  246. 

Death  of  Cleopatra,  156. 

DeatJt  of  General  Montgomery, 
68/338. 

Death  of  the  Flowers,  146. 

Declaration  of  Independence,  45. 

Deerslayer,  134. 

Demetria,  171. 

Democracy,  249. 

Democratiad,  86,  87. 

Denton,  Daniel,  39,  335. 

De  Quincey,  Thomas,  169. 

Descent  into  tJie  Maelstrom,  164. 

Deiikalion,  264. 

Dial,  210. 

Diary  of  Samuel  Sewall,  34-35, 
303,  332. 

Dickens,  Charles,  122. 

Dickenson,  Jonathan,  40-41,  336. 

Dickinson,  Emily,  285. 

Dickinson,  John,  48,  337. 

Disappointment,  67,  337. 

Disinterred  IVarrior,  143. 

Divina  Commedia  —  Parson's 
translation,  176  ;  Long 
fellow's,  190 ;  miscella 
neous,  266. 

Divine  Tragedy,  189. 

Doctor  Grimshaw's  Secret,  221, 
223,  224,  225. 

Doctor  Heidegger's  Experiment, 
220. 

Dolliver  Romance,  221,  223,  225. 


Dolph  Heyliger,  124. 
Domain  of  Arnheim,  1 66. 
Donna  Florida,  155. 
Dorothy  Q.,  255. 
Douglass,  William,  35,  335. 
Drake,  J.  R.,  113-114,  345. 
Dream  Life,  174.       • 
Dream  of  the  Branding  of  Asses 

and  Horses,  53-54,  312. 
Dreamland,  167. 
Dryden,  John,  37,  66,  67. 
Dunbar,  P.  L.,  288. 
Dunlap,  William,  91. 
Dttf Chilian's  Fireside,  113. 
Dwight,  Timothy,  59,  61-62,  87, 

3i8,  339. 

Each  and  All,  207. 

Edgar   Huntly,   94,    97-98,    99, 

100,  101. 

Edict  by  the  King  of  Prussia,  56. 
Edinburgh  Revieiv,  117-118. 
Edwards,  Jonathan,  33-34,  191- 

192,  302,  335,  349. 
Eggleston,  Edward,  285. 
Eiron  and  Charmion,  1 66. 
Eleanora,  165. 
Elegy  on  the  Times,  60,  338. 
Eliot,  John,  21,  332. 
Elsie  Venner,  258-259. 
Embargo,  138. 
Emerson,  R.  W.  — life,  195-200  ; 

works,  62,   195,  200-209  ; 

miscellaneous,    211,    269, 

345- 

English  literature  (see  "Ameri 
can  literature  "). 

English,  T.  D.,  261. 

English  Traits,  203. 

Entertaining  Passages  Relating 
to  Philip's  War,  35. 


364 


INDEX. 


Ephemera,  56. 

Eternal  Goodness,  238. 

Eureka,  163,  164. 

European  literatures  (see  "Ameri 
can  literature  "). 

Eutaw  Springs,  65. 

Evangeline^  185-186. 

Evans,  Nathaniel,  42,  336. 

Everett,  Edward,  276,  345. 

Examination  of  Doctor  Benja 
min  Franklin,  56,  337. 

Excelsior,  183. 

Exiles,  234. 

Fable  for  Critics,  245. 

Facts  in  the  Case  of  M.  Valde- 
mar,  164. 

Fall  of  British  Tyranny,  67,  338. 

Fall  of  the  House  of  Usher,  165, 
1 66. 

Familiar  Epistle  to  a  Friend, 
246. 

Fanny,  114. 

Fanshawe,  220. 

Farmer  Refuted,  49,  337. 

Father  of  an  Only  Child,  91. 

Faust  —  Bayard  Taylor's  trans 
lation  of,  265. 

Feather  top,  220. 

Federalist,  50-51,  341. 

Female  Quixotism,  94. 

Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  277. 

Fessenden,  T.  G.,  81-82. 

Field,  Eugene,  285. 

Field  of  Orleans,  88. 

Fielding,  Henry,  123. 

Flood  of  Years,  143. 

Florence  Vane,  153. 

Folger,  Peter,  36,  332. 

Forbearance,  208. 

Forest  Hymn,  145,  146. 


Foresters  (poem),  84-85. 
Foresters  (tale),  92. 
Foster,  H.  \V.,  94. 
Four  Ages  of  Man,  26. 
Foure  Elements,  26. 
Foure  Humours,  26. 
Foure  Monarchies,  26,  27. 
Foure  Seasons,  26,  299. 
Franklin,    Benjamin,   42,  55-57, 

336,  337- 

Freedom  of  the  Will,  33, 192,  335. 
Freneau,  Philip,  59,  63-65,  320, 

323,340. 

Froissart  Ballads,  153. 
Frontenac,  1 1 6. 
Full  Vindication  of  the  Measures 

of  the  Congress,  49,  337. 
Fuller,  Margaret  (see  "Ossoli"). 

Gallic  Perfidy,  37-38,  335. 

Gay,  John,  58,  60. 

General  Idea   of  the    College  of 

Mirania,  41,  335. 
Gladiator,  261. 

Godfrey,  Thomas,  41-42,  309, 336. 
God's  Protecting  Providence,  41, 

336. 

Godwin,  William,  95,  99,  156. 
Goethe,  J.  W.,  182,  186,  194,  263, 

265. 

Gold  Bug,  164. 
Golden  Legend,  189-190. 
Goldsmith,  Oliver,  59,  60,  62,  83, 

124. 

Good-Bye,  208. 
"  Good  Gray  Poet,"  267. 
Good  Spec.,  91. 
Gookin,  Daniel,  21,  332. 
Gordon,  William,  51,  341. 
Grandfather's  Chair,  219. 
Grave,  John,  13,  329. 


INDEX. 


365 


Gray  Forest-Eagle,  116. 
Gray,  Thomas,  58,  60,  64,  86. 
Green,  Joseph,  37,  308,  335. 
Green  River ;  146. 
Greene,  A.  G.,  173. 
Greenfield  Hill,  62,  339. 
Greyslaer,  115. 
Group  (play),  67,  337. 
Group  (poem),  81. 
Guardian  Angel,  258. 
Guillotina,  86. 

"  H.  H.,"  285-286. 

Hail  Columbia,  88. 

Hale,  E.  E.,  284. 

Halleck,  Fitz-Greene,  114,  345. 

Hamilton,  Alexander,  49,  50,  337, 

341- 

Hammond,  John,  12,  329. 

Hans  Breitman's  Ballads,  262. 

Happiness  of  America,  59. 

Harte,  F.  B.,  286,  346. 

Hasty- Pudding,  63,  319,  339. 

Hatmted  Palace,  168. 

Hawthorne,  Nathaniel,  —  life, 
178,  214-219;  works,  214, 
219-227;  miscellaneous, 
100,  141,  142,  345,  346. 

Hay,  John,  285. 

Hayne,  P.  H.,  153. 

Heidenmauer,  130. 

Hemans,  Felicia,  171. 

Henry,  Patrick,  46. 

Hermit  of  Saba,  64. 

Herrick,  Robert,  64. 

Hesperia,  152. 

Hiawatha,  187-189. 

Hillhouse,  J.  A.,  171. 

History  of  Carolina,  38,  336. 

History  of  the  Dividing  Line,  15, 
294,  329,  330- 


History  of  Elvira,  93. 

History  of  the  first  Discovery  and 
Settlement  of  l^rginia,  16, 
36,  330. 

History  of  the  Five  Indian  Na 
tions,  39,  335. 

History  of  Afar ia  Kittle,  92. 

History  of  New  England,  19,  330. 

History   of  Plymouth,    18,    295, 

33°- 

History  of  the  Province  of  Massa 
chusetts  Bay,  51,  341. 

History  of  the  Province  of  New 
York,  40,  335. 

History  of  the  United  Nether 
lands,  278. 

History  of  the  United  States,  by 
Bancroft,  277-278. 

History  of  Virginia,  15,  329. 

Hobomok,  172. 

Hoffman,  C.  F.,  115. 

Holland,  J.  G.,  176. 

Holmes,  O.  W.  — life,  250-254; 
works,  251,  254-260;  mis 
cellaneous,  345,  346. 

Home,  Sweet  Home,  114. 

Homer,  147. 

Homeivard  Bound,  130. 

Hood,  Thomas,  149. 

Hooker,  Thomas,  21,  22, 297,  331. 

Hope  Leslie,  172. 

Hopkins,    Lemuel,   59,   87,   339. 

Hopkinson,  Francis,  53,  54,  337. 

Hopkinson,  Joseph,  88. 

Horse- Shoe  Robinson,  154. 

House  by  the  Sea,  261. 

House  of  Night,  64,  320. 

House  of  the  Seven  Gables,  221, 
223,  224,  225,  227. 

How  the  Women  Went  from 
Dover,  236. 


366 


INDEX. 


Howard,  Martin,  47. 

Howe,  J.  W.,  174. 

Howells,  W.  D.,  283-284,  346. 

Hoyt,  Ralph,  116. 

Hubbard,  William,  35,  333. 

Hubert  and  Ellen,  83. 

Humphreys,     David,     59,    339- 

340. 

Hunt,  Leigh,  89. 
Hurricane^  145. 
Hutchinson,  Thomas,  51,  341. 
Hutton,  Joseph,  84,  88. 
Hylas,  264. 

Hymns  to  the  Gods,  173. 
Hyperion,  179,  182. 

Ichabod,  235. 

Idomen,  171. 

"  Ik  Marvel,"  174. 

Iliad — Bryant's  Translation  of, 
147-148. 

/;/  School  Days,  236. 

/;/  War  Time,  235. 

Indian  Burying  Ground,  65. 

Indian  Girl's  Lament,  143. 

Indian  Slimmer  Reverie.,  244. 

Indians  Bride,  153. 

Indians  (see  "  American  litera 
ture  "). 

Industry  of  the  United  States,  59. 

Inscription  for  the  Entrance  to  a 
Wood,  139,  145,  146. 

Irene,  244. 

Irving,  Washington, — life,  116- 
121  ;  works,  117,  121-126; 
miscellaneous,  174,  182, 
190,  249,  345,  346. 

Island  in  the  South,  153. 

Island  of  the  Fay,  1 66. 

Israfel,  167,  1 68. 

Italian  Banditti,  124. 


Jackson,  H.  H.,  285,  346. 

James,  Henry,  284,  346. 

Jane  Talbot,  94,  96,  99,  100. 

Jay,  John,  50. 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  45-46,  52. 

"  Joaquin  Miller,"  286. 

John  Brent,  175. 

Johnson,  Edward,  20,  331. 

Johnston,  R.  M.,  288. 

Jonathan  Oldstyle  letters,  121. 

Jones,  Professor  Hugh,  15,  329. 

Josh  Billings:  His  Book,  273. 

Jotwney  from  Philadelphia  to 
New  York,  64,  340. 

Journal  of  Bradford  and  Wins- 
low,  1 8,  295,  330. 

journal  of  John  Winthrop,  330. 
Journal  of  John  Woolman,  52- 

53- 
fournal  of  Sarah  K.  Knight,  35, 

3°5>  334- 

Judas  Maccabeus,  189. 
Judd,  Sylvester,  173-174. 
Judith,  Esther,  etc.,  171-172. 
fune,  146. 
Justice  and  Expediency,  238. 

Kant,  Immanuel,  193-194. 
Katharine  Walton,  157. 
KavanagJi,  182. 
Keats,  John,  89,  149,   150,   168, 

244,  283. 
Keep  Cool,  171. 
Keimer,  Samuel,  41. 
Kennedy,  J.  P.,   1 154. 
Key,  F.  S.,  88. 
King  Philip's  War,  35. 
f\insmen,  157. 
Knapp,  Francis,  37. 
Knickerbockers  History  of  New 

York,  1 1 8,  122-123. 


INDEX. 


367 


Knight,  H.  C,  84. 

Knight,  S.  K.,  35,  305,  334. 

Ladd,  J.  B.,  59,  34°. 

Ladies  of  Castile,  67. 

Lady  Eleanor's  Mantle,  220 

Lamb,  Charles,  53. 

Landor,  W.  S.,  156,  244. 

LandoSs  Cottage,  1 66. 

Lanier,  Sidney,  287. 

Larcom  Lucy,  285. 

Lars,  264. 

Last  Leaf,  255. 

Last  of  the  Mohicans,  133,  134. 

Laurens,  Henry,  52,  310,  338. 

Lawson,  John,  38,  336. 

Lay  of  the  Scotch  Fiddle,  113. 

Lays  of  the  Heart,  171. 

Lazarus,  Emma,  285. 

Leah  and  Rachel,  13,  329. 

Legare,  J.  M.,  153. 

Legend  of  Brittany,  244. 

Legend  of  Sleepy  Hollow,  123. 

Legends  and  Lyrics,  154. 

Leggett,  William,  116. 

Leicester,  91. 

Leisure  Day  Rhymes,  149. 

Leisure  Hours,  84. 

Leland,  C.  G.,  261-262. 

Leonard,  Daniel,  49,  338. 

Letter   from     a     Gentleman    a, 
Halifax,  47. 

Letters     from      an      American 
Farmer,  54-55,  315,  339 

Letters  from  a  Farmer  in  Penn 
sylvania,  48,  337. 
Letters  of  the  British  Spy,  79. 
Letters,    of  John   and    Margare 

Winthrop,  19,  296,  330. 
Tetters  to  Young  Ladies,  171. 
Lewis,  M.  G.,  84. 


Life   and   Character  of  Patrick 
Henry,  79. 

Life  and  Sayings  of  Mrs.  Part- 
ington,  273. 

Life  of  Columbus,  125. 

Life  of  Franklin  Pierce,  219. 

Life  of  Goldsmith,  125. 

Life  of  Washington,  79. 

Life  on  the  Ocean  Wave,  1 73. 

Ligeia,  165,  166. 

Lighthouse,  184. 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  276-277. 

Lines  on  Revisiting  the  Country, 
146. 

Linn,  J.  B.,  83,  93. 

Linwoods,  172. 

Little  Britain,  123. 

Little  People  of  the  Snow,  147. 

Livingston,  William,  40,  336. 

Locke,  D.  R.,  274. 

Logan,  James,  41,  336. 

Longfellow,  H.  W.  —  life,  177- 
182;  works,  177-178,  182- 
191;  miscellaneous,  163, 
246,  345,  346. 

Longfellow,  Samuel,  173. 

Lord,  W.  W.,  149. 

Lost  Occasion,  235. 

LoveweWs  Fight,  37. 

Lowell,    J.    R. —  life,    239-244; 
works,  240,  244—250;  mis 
cellaneous,  163,  346. 
Lunt,  George,  173. 

Mackenzie,  Henry,  79. 
Macpherson,  James,  59,  266,  271. 
Madison,  James,  50. 
Magazines,  53,  58,  77,  107,  116, 

311,  324,  344. 
Magnalia,  30-31,  301,  333. 
Main  Truck,  115. 


368 


INDEX. 


Marble  Faun,  221,  222,  223,  224, 

225,  226,  227. 
Marco  Bozzaris,  114. 
Margaret,  174. 

Margaret  Smith's  Journal,  238. 
"Maria     del    Occidente,"    171- 

172. 

"  Mark  Twain,"  286-287. 
Markoe,  Peter,  58,  68,  340. 
Married  or  Single,  172. 
Marshall,  John,  79. 
Mason,  John,  21,  332. 
Masque  of  the  Gods,  264. 
Masque  of  Pandora,  189. 
Masque  of  the  Red  Death,  165. 
Masquerade,  149. 
"  Massachusettensis,"  49,  338. 
Massachusetts  to  Virginia,  235. 
Mather,  Cotton,  29-32,  36,  301, 

333-334- 

Mather,  Increase,  29,  31,  333. 
Mather,  Richard,  29. 
Mather,  Samuel,  30,  334. 
Maud  Muller,  236. 
May  Day,  91. 
Maylem,  John,  37-38,  335. 
Meat  out  of  the  Eater,  27,  331. 
Meddler,  60. 

Meditations  in  America,  149. 
Meditations  of  Anne  Bradstreet, 

27. 

Meeting,  238. 

Melville,  Herman,  148-149. 
Mercedes,  132. 
Merlin,  207. 

Mesmeric  Revelation,  164. 
"  Metaphysical "    poets,    25,    27 

36,  37- 

Af'Fingal,  60,  318,  338. 
Michael  Angelo,  189. 
Middle    States  —  conditions    in 


affecting  literature,  76,  77. 

112-113. 
Midnight  Mass  for   the   Dying 

Year,  183. 
Miller,  C.  H.,  286. 
Milton,  John,  23,  28,  64,  149,  155. 
Minister's  Black  Veil,  220. 
Mitchell,  D.  G.,  174,  346. 
Mitchell,  S.  W.,  284. 
Moby  Dick,  149. 
Modern  Chivalry,  93. 

*gg  Megone^  234. 
Money-Diggers,  124. 
Money-King,  149. 
Manikins,  130. 
Monos  and  Una,  1 66. 
Monument  Mountain,  143. 
Moore,   Thomas,   89,    115,    153, 

155.  172. 
Moral  Pieces,  171. 
Morella,  1 66. 
Morrell,  William,  24,  330. 
Morris,  G.  P.,  115. 
Mortal  Antipathy,  258. 
Morton,  Nathaniel,  24. 
Morton,  Sarah,  83. 
Morton,  Thomas,  19,  330. 
Mosses  from  an  Old  Manse,  219- 

220. 

Motley  Assembly,  68,  338. 
Motley,  J.  L.,  278,  345. 
Moulton,  L.  C.,  285. 
Mountain  of  the  Lovers,  154. 
Mourfs  Relation,  330. 
Mrs.  Bullfrog,  220. 
MS.  Found  in  a  Bottle,  1 60. 
Murders  in  the  Rue  Morgue,  164. 
Murfee,  M.  N.,  288. 
My  Garden  Acquaintance,  249. 
My  Life   is   Like    the   Slimmer 
Rose,  152. 


INDEX. 


369 


My  Mother's  Bible,  115. 
Mystery  of  Marie  /\oget,  1 64. 
Mystic  Trumpeter,  273. 

Narrative  of  the  Captivity  of  Mrs. 

Rowlandson,  35,  307,333. 

Narrative  of  the  Indian   Wars, 

333- 

Narrative  of  the  Troubles  with 
the  Indians,  35,  333. 

Nasbv  Papers,  274. 

Nature  (see  "American  litera 
ture"). 

Nature,  207. 

Neal,  John,  88-90,  171. 

New  Description  of  Carolina,  38, 

335- 

New  England  —  conditions  in, 
affecting  literature,  16-18, 
21-23,  28-29,  76,  77,  91, 
177,  183,  I9i~i95>  254- 
255>  259,. 260. 

New  England's  Memorial,  24, 
25,  332. 

New  England  Primer,  326-328. 

New  England  Tale,  172. 

New  England  Tragedies,  189. 

New  English  Canaan,  19,  330. 

New  Pastoral,  261. 

New  Voyage  to  Georgia,  39,  336. 

Newspapers,    53,    77,    107,    312, 

323,  344- 

Nick  of  the  Woods,  261. 
Niles,  Samuel,  37,  335. 
Norman  Maurice,  156. 
North   American    Review,    107, 

139,  249. 
Norton,  John,  36. 
Not   Yet,  139. 
Note- Books  (Hawthorne's),  219, 

223. 

2B 


Nothing  to  Wear,  149. 
Nova  Anglia,  24,  330. 
Noyes,  Nicholas,  37. 

Oakes,  Urian,  36,  332. 

Ode  Recited  at  the  Harvard  Com 
memoration,  246. 

Ode  to  France,  244. 

Ode  to  Happiness,  246. 

Odell,  Jonathan,  66,  338. 

Odyssey,  Bryant's  translation, 
147-148. 

Of  Plimoth  Plantation,  330. 

Oh  Fairest  af  the  Rural  Maids, 
146. 

Old  Clock  on  the  Stairs,  183. 

Old  Grimes,  173. 

Old  Ironsides,  252. 

Old  Oaken  Bucket,  115. 

Olio,  87. 

On  a  Beauti fid  Lady  with  a  Loud 
Voice,  58. 

On  a  Bust  of  Dante,  1 76. 

On  a  Certain  Condescension  in 
Foreigners,  249. 

On  a  Honey  Bee,  64. 

One-Hoss  Shay,  255. 

O'Reilly,  J.  B.,  285. 

Orientalism  (see  "  American  liter 
ature  "  ). 

Ormond,  94,  96,  99,  100. 

Orta-Undis,  153. 

Osgood,  F.  S.,  173. 

"Ossian,"  59,  266,  271. 

Ossoli,  Sarah  Margaret  Fuller, 
210. 

Otis,  James,  46,  47,  336. 

Ouabi,  83. 

Our  Old  Home,  219. 

Outre-Mer,  182. 

Over  the  Tea- Cups,  258. 


370 


INDEX. 


Ovid  —  Metamorphoses,   Sandy's 
translation  of,  12,  329. 

Page,  T.  N.,  288. 

Paine,  R.  T.,  80. 

Paine,  Thomas,  50,  79,  338. 

Pains  of  Memory,  80. 

Painted  Cup,  147. 

Pan  in  Love,  176. 

Parker,  Theodore,  274. 

Parkman,  Francis,  278. 

Parsons,  T.  W.,  1 76. 

Parting  Glass,  64. 

Partisan,  157. 

Passage  to  India,  272. 

Pathfinder,  134,  135,  136. 

Patriot  Chief,  68,  340. 

Patrolling  Barnegat,  273. 

Paul  Felton,  170. 

Paulding,  J.  K.,  113,  121,  345. 

Paulding,  William,  121. 

Payne,  J.  II.,  114-115. 

Penhaliow,  Samuel,  35,  334. 

Penn,  William,  40,  336. 

Pennsylvania  Idyls,  264. 

Pennsylvania  Pilgrim,  237. 

Percival,  J.  G.,  172-173. 

Peters,  Phillis  Wheatley,  58,  337. 

Phillips,  Wendell,  27,  277,  345. 

Philo,  174. 

Philosophic  Solitude,  40,  336. 

Philosophy  of  Composition,  1 66. 

Piatt,  John,  285. 

Piazza  Tales,  149. 

Pictures  from  Appledore,  245. 

Pictures  of  Columbus,  64. 

Pierpont,  John,  170. 

Pietas  et  Gratulatio,  38,  335. 

Pike,  Albert,  173. 

Pilot,  130,  135. 

Pinckney,  Eliza,  38-39,  336. 


Pinkney,  E.  C,  153. 

Pioneers,  134. 

Pipes  at  Lucknow,  236. 

Pit  and  the  Pendulum,  164. 

Plato,  201. 

Poe,     E.     A. —life,      158-163; 

works,  100,  158,  163-170; 

miscellaneous,     1 80,    226, 

227,  345»  346. 
Poem   Spoken  at  Commencement 

at    Yale  College,  62,  339. 
Poems  of  the  Orient,  264. 
Poems  on  Slavery,  184. 
Poet  at  the  Breakfast  Table,  258. 
Poetic  Principle,  163. 
Political  Balance,  64. 
Political  Green-House,  87. 
Ponteach,  66-67,  336. 
Poor  Margaret  Dwy,  84. 
Poor  Kichard^s  Almanac,  56—57, 

336. 
Pope,  Alexander,  37,  57,  58,  59, 

6 1,  64,  66,  80,83,86,  256. 
Porcupiniad,  87. 
Power  of  Fancy,  64. 
Power  of  Solitude,  80. 
Prairie  (novel),  134-135. 
Prairie  (poem),  146. 
Praxiteles  and  Phryne,  176. 
P raver  of  Columbus,  272. 
Precaution,  128. 
Prescott,  W.  H.,  277. 
Present  State  of  Virginia,  15,  329. 
Present   State  of  Virginia  and 

the  College,  15. 
Pretty  Story,  54,  337. 
Prince,  Thomas,  36,  335. 
Prince  of  Parthia,  42,  309,  336. 
Procession  of  Life,  220. 
Professor  at  the  Breakfast  Table, 

258. 


INDEX. 


371 


Progress,  149. 

Progress  of  Dulness,  60,  317,  338. 

Prometheus  (by  Tercival) ,  172. 

Prometheus  (by  Lowell),  244. 

Prophet,  264. 

Prospect  of  Peace,  62,  339. 

Proud  Afiss  Mac  bride,  149. 

Providence  Gazette,  312. 

Psalm  of  Life,  183. 

Psalms,   Hymns,  and  Spiritual 

Songs,  25,  331. 
Purloined  Letter,  164. 

Rain-Dream,  146. 
Rain  in  Summer,  184. 
Rainy  Day,  183. 
Raleigh,  Walter,  27. 
Ralph,  James,  41. 
Ramsay,  David,  51,  341. 
Randolph,  John,  78-79. 
Randolph  of  Koanoke,  235. 
Rationale  of  Verse,  163. 
Raven,  1 66,  169. 
Read,  T.  B.,  261. 
Rebels,  172. 
Red  Jacket,  114. 
Red  Rover,  130,  135. 
Redeemed  Captive,  35,  334. 
Redskins,  130. 
Redwood,  172. 
Repplier,  Agnes,  284. 
Restoration  Drama,  42,  67. 
Reuben  and  RacJiel,  94. 
Reveries  of  a  Bachelor,  174. 
Rhcecus,  244. 
Richard  Edney,  174. 
Richardson,  Samuel,  94. 
Rights  of  the  British  Colonies  As 
serted  and  Proved,  47,  336. 
Rights  of  Man,  79. 
Riley,  J.  W.,  285. 


Rill  from  the  Town  Pump,  220. 
Rip  Van  Winkle,  118,  123. 
Rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic,  278. 
Robert  of  Lincoln,  146. 
Rocked  in  the  Cradle  of  the  Deep, 

173- 

Rodolph,  153. 

Rogers,  John,  36. 

Rogers,  Robert,  67,  336. 

Rogers,  Samuel,  80. 

Rosaline,  244. 

Rose,  Aquila,  41. 

Rowlandson,  Mary,  35,  307,  333. 

Rowson,  S.  H.,  81,  93-94. 

Rules  for  Reducing  a  Great  Em 
pire  to  a  Small  One,  56. 

Ruling  Passion,  80. 

Rumford,  Count,  79. 

Rural  Funerals,  123. 

Rush,  Benjamin,  79. 

Sabbath-Day  Chase,  64. 

Sack  of  Rome,  67. 

Salmagundi,  118,  121-122;  sec 
ond  series,  113. 

Sands,  R.  C.,  116. 

Sandys,  George,  12,  329. 

Sarah,  94. 

Sargent,  Epes,  173. 

Sargent,  L.  M.,  83. 

Satanstoe,  132. 
Saturday  Club,"  253. 

Saxe,  J.  G.,  149. 

Scarlet  Letter,  220,  221,  222,  223, 
224,  225,  227. 

Scott,  Walter,  65,  79,  83,  90,  113, 
1 1 6,  122;  and  Cooper, 
128,  130,  133,  136,  149, 

J53»   !56»   J72»  23°>  239, 
261,  265. 
Seabury,  Samuel,  48-49,  337. 


372 


INDEX. 


Seccomb,  John,  37,  334. 

Secret  of  the  Sea,  184. 

Sedgwick,  C.  M.,  172. 

Sella,  147. 

Septimius  Felton,  221,  223. 

Seventy- Six,  171. 

Sewall,  J.  M.,  88. 

Sewall,  Samuel,  34~35»  3°3»  332- 

Shaded  Water,  156. 

Shakspere,  William,   12,  27,  42, 

64,67,  155,  230,  266. 
Shaw,  H.  W.,  273. 
Shelley,  P.  B.,  89,  155,  168,  169, 

172,  226,  244,  264. 
Shepard,  Thomas,  22,  331,  332. 
Sheridan's  Ride,  261. 
Shillaber,  B.  P.,  273. 
Shippen,  Joseph,  41. 
Signs  of  Apostacy  Lamented,  29. 
Sigourney,  L.  H.,  171. 
Sill,  E.  R.,  285. 
Simms,  W.  G.,  154-157. 
Simple   Cobler  of  Aggaivam,  24, 

298,  331- 
Sinners    in    the    Hands    of  an 

Angry  God,  33,  303,  335. 
Sirens,  244. 

Skeleton  in  Armour,  183. 
Sketch  Book,  122,  123. 
"  Sketch  Club,"  142. 
•Skipper  Iresoris  Ride,  236. 
Sky  Walk,  94. 
Slave  Ships,  235. 
Slaves  of  Martinique,  235. 
Smith,  Capt.  John,  12,  293,  329, 

330,  354- 

Smith,  F.  H.,  288. 
Smith,  S.  F.,  173. 
Smith,  Sydney,  117,  275. 
Smith,  William,  40,  335. 
Smith,  William,  41,  335. 


Smollett,  Tobias,  93,  124. 
Snow-Bound,  230,  232,  236-237. 
Snow  Image,  22t),  226. 
Snow- Shower,  146. 
Song  of  a  Virginia  Slave  Mother, 

235- 

Song  of  Marion's  Men,  142. 

Song  of  Sion,  13,  329. 

Songs  and  Ballads,  156. 

Songs  and  Ballads  of  the  Ameri 
can  Revolution,  316,  339. 

Songs  of  Labor,  235. 

Songs  of  the  Sea,  173. 

Sot- Weed  Factor,  39,  335. 

South  —  conditions  in,  affecting 
literature,  76,  150-152, 
287. 

Southey,  Robert,   144,  145,  172. 

Spanish  Student,  189. 

Spenser,  Edmund,  26,  27,  62. 

Spirit  of  Poetry,  184. 

Sprague,  Charles,  170. 

Spy,  128,  132. 

Star-Spangled  Banner,  88. 

Stars  of  the  Summer  Night,  189. 

Stedman,  E.  C.,  283. 

Sterne,  Lawrence,  79,  123. 

Stirling,  Lord,  28. 

Stith,  Rev.  William,  16,  36,  330. 

Stockton,  F.  R.,  284. 

Stoddard,  R.  H.,  285. 

Story,  Joseph,  80. 

Story,  W.  W.,  175-176. 

Story  of  Henry  and  Anne,  93. 

Stout  Gentleman,  124. 

Stowe,  H.  B.,  174-175,  345,  34°. 

Strachey,  William,  12,  329. 

Strange  Lady,  147. 

Strange  Stories  by  a  Nervous 
Gentleman,  124. 

Stratford-on-Avon,  123. 


INDEX. 


373 


Street,  A.  B.,  116. 
Student  of  Salamanca,  124. 
Summer  in  the  South,  156. 
Summer  Ramble,  146. 
Summer  Wind,  146. 
Summer's  Day,  85-86. 
Sumner,  Charles,  277-245. 
Sunday  at  Home,  220. 
Swift,  Dean,  93. 
Sword  of  Bunker  Hill,  149. 
Sylphs  of  the  Seasons,  82,  85. 

Tailfer,  Patrick,  39,  336. 

Tales  of  a  Traveller,  124. 

Tales  of  a  Wayside  Inn,  189. 

Tanglewood  Tales,  219. 

Taylor,  Bayard,  —  life,  262-263; 
works,  262,  264-265 ;  mis 
cellaneous,  345. 

Telling  the  Bees,  236. 

T ell-Tale  Heart,  165. 

Temptation  of  Venus,  153. 

Tenney,  T.  G.,  94. 

Tennyson,  Lord,  63,  147,  149, 
•  150,  153,  175,  244,  246. 

Tenth  Muse,  26. 

Tent  on  the  Beach,  232,  237. 

Terminus,  208. 

Terrible  Tractoration,  82. 

Thackeray,  W.  M.,  158,  289. 

Thanatopsis,  138,  139,  144. 

Thaxter,  C.  L.,  285. 

"Theresa,"  81. 

The'ssalonica,  95,  100. 

Thomas,  Edith,  285. 

Thomas,  Gabriel,  40,  336. 

Thompson,  J.  R.,  153. 

Thomson,  Benjamin,  37. 

Thomson,  James,  62. 

Thomson,  Maurice,  285. 

Thoreau,  H.  D.,  210-2 1 3, 345, 346. 


Timrod,  H.  B.,  153. 

To  a  Cloud,  147. 

To  a  Waterfowl,  138,  146. 

To  Faneuil  Hall,  235. 

To  Perdita  Singing,  244. 

To  the  Dandelion,  244. 

To  the  Fringed  Gentian,  65,  146. 

To  the  Man-of-  War  Bird,  273. 

Tom  Thornton,  170. 

Tortesa  the  Usurer,  115. 

Transcendentalism,  177,  191-195, 

204-205,  343. 

Trials  of  the  Human  Heart,  93. 
Trinitas,  238. 
True  and  Historical  Narration 

of  Georgia,  39. 
Trumbull,  John,   59,  60-61,  317, 

338. 

Tuckerman,  H.  T.,  116. 
Turrell,  Jane,  37,  335. 
Twice- Told  Tales,  219-220. 
Two  Years  before  the  Mast,  174. 
Tyler,  Royall,  90-91,  93. 

Ulalume,  167,  1 68,  169. 
Uncle  Tom^s  Cabin,  174. 
Under  the  Old  Elm,  246. 
Under  the  Willows,  245. 
Unitarianism,  177,  343. 

Valerian,  83. 

Va  nderlyn,  115. 

Vaudois  Teacher,  237. 
Very,  Jones,  210. 

Victoria,  93. 

Village  Blacksmith,  183. 

Village  Merchant,  64,  340. 
Virginia —  conditions  in,  affecting 
literature,  8,  11,  13-15. 

Virginia  Comedians,  158. 
Vision  of  Columbus,  62,  339. 


374 


INDEX. 


Vision  of  Sir  Launfal,  244. 
Voices  of  Freedom,  234-235. 

Wagoner  of  the  Alleghanies,  261. 

Waiting  by  the  Gate,  143. 

Wallace,  Lewis,  285. 

Wallace,  W.  R.,  149. 

War  Lyrics,  1 74. 

Ward,  E.  P.,  284. 

Ward,  Nathaniel,  24,  298,  331. 

Ware,  William,  172. 

Warner,  C.  D.,  284. 

Warren,  Mercy,  51,  67,  337,  341, 

343- 

Warton,  Joseph,  86. 
Washington,  George,  52. 
Webb,  George,  41,  336. 
Webster,  Daniel,  229,  235,  275- 

276. 

Webster,  Noah,  79. 
West  —  condition     in,    affecting 

literature,  76-77,  346. 
"  Westchester  Farmer,"  48-49. 
Westminster  Abbey,  123. 
Wheatley,  Phillis,  58. 
Whipple,  E.  P.,  175. 
Whisper  to  a  Bride,  171. 
Whistle,  56. 
White,  H.  K.,  144. 
Whitman,  S.  H.,  173. 
Whitman,  Walt,  —  life,  265-267 ; 

works,  265,  267-273. 
Whittier,  J.  G.,  — life,  228-234; 
works,  228,  232,  234-239; 
miscellaneous,  345. 
Whole  Booke  of  Psalmes,  25,  330. 
Wieland,  94,  98,  99. 
Wigglesworth,    Michael,    27-28, 

300,  331. 

Wild  Honeysuckle,  64,  65,  321. 
Wilde,  R.  H.,  152. 


Wilkins,  M.  E.,  284. 
Willard,  E.  H.,  173. 
William  Wilson,  165. 
Williams,  John,  35,  334. 
Williams,  Roger,  23-24,  29,  331- 

332. 

Willis,  N.  P.,  115-116,  345. 
Wilson,  Alexander,  84. 
Win  d  a  n  d  Strea  m,  147. 
Wing-and-]Ving,  130. 
Winslow,  Edward,  1 8,  295,  330. 
Winthrop,  John,  19,  330. 
Winthrop,    Margaret,     19,    296, 

33°>  343- 

Winthrop,  Theodore,  175. 
Wirt,  W'illiam,  79. 
Wise,  John,  32,  334. 
Witch's  Daughter,  236. 
Witchcraft,  31-32;  no,  189,  222, 

255.  3°3,  333.  343- 
With    Husky-Haughty    Lips,    O 

Sea,    273. 

Wolcott,  Roger,  37,  334. 
Wonder-Book,  219. 
Wonder-  Working  Providence  of 

Sion's    Saviour,    20,    24, 

331. 

Woodman,    Spare     That     Tree, 

"5- 

Woodworth,  Samuel,  115. 
Woolman,  John,  52-53,  338. 
Wordsworth,  William,  79,  83,  84, 

86,  145-147,  201,  244. 
Wreck  of  the  Hesperus,  184. 

Yankee  in  London,  93. 

Yellow  Violet,  146. 

Young  Goodman  Brown,  22O. 

Zenobia,  172. 
Zophiel,  172. 


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